CAHIERS DU CINEMA 100 BEST FILMS LIST

The greatest film ever made? Maybe...

The legendary French Film Magazine CAHIERS DU CINEMA has released an updated 100 BEST FILMS list compiled from the choices of French directors, critics and film industry leaders.

It seems like CITIZEN KANE is always going to top most of these lists, with THE GODFATHER perhaps sometimes getting #1. The most interesting choice for me is Luis Bunuel's rather obscure 1952 Mexican melodrama EL [over LOS OLVIDADOS or VIRIDIANA]. I find it interesting that a favorite like CASABLANCA didn't make it and no films of Rainer Werner Fassbinder are cited. I can think of at least three Fassbinder films which I would list along with Werner Herzog's AGUIRRE, THE WRATH OF GOD. All such lists are ultimately subjective, culturally skewed and questionable but it can be a fun game to play.

I recently revisited EL, a jet black comedy of manners with tragic undertones as well as a typically Bunuelian study of clinical paranoia. I'll be reviewing it here soon.

For the record, my favorite Orson Welles film is FALSTAFF/CHIMES AT MIDNIGHT (1965) the project on which Welles hired Jess Franco to help film the much praised battle scene. A must for Welles and Franco enthusiasts but unfortunately, due to labyrinthe legal complications, not available on the kind of high quality R1 DVD presentation this masterwork demands.

Here's the list:

Citizen Kane - Orson Welles
The Night of the Hunter - Charles Laughton
The Rules of the Game (La Règle du jeu) - Jean Renoir
Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (L'Aurore) - Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau
L'Atalante - Jean Vigo
M - Fritz Lang
Singin' in the Rain - Stanley Donen & Gene Kelly
Vertigo - Alfred Hitchcock
Children of Paradise (Les Enfants du Paradis) - Marcel Carné
The Searchers - John Ford
Greed - Erich von Stroheim
Rio Bravo - Howard Hawkes
To Be or Not to Be - Ernst Lubitsch
Tokyo Story - Yasujiro Ozu
Contempt (Le Mépris) - Jean-Luc Godard
Tales of Ugetsu (Ugetsu monogatari) - Kenji Mizoguchi
City Lights - Charlie Chaplin
The General - Buster Keaton
Nosferatu the Vampire - Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau
The Music Room - Satyajit Ray
Freaks - Tod Browning
Johnny Guitar - Nicholas Ray
The Mother and the Whore (La Maman et la Putain) - Jean Eustache
The Great Dictator - Charlie Chaplin
The Leopard (Le Guépard) - Luchino Visconti
Hiroshima, My Love - Alain Resnais
The Box of Pandora (Loulou) - Georg Wilhelm Pabst
North by Northwest - Alfred Hitchcock
Pickpocket - Robert Bresson
Golden Helmet (Casque d'or) - Jacques Becker
The Barefoot Contessa - Joseph Mankiewitz
Moonfleet - Fritz Lang
Diamond Earrings (Madame de…) - Max Ophüls
Pleasure - Max Ophüls
The Deer Hunter - Michael Cimino
The Adventure - Michelangelo Antonioni
Battleship Potemkin - Sergei M. Eisenstein
Notorious - Alfred Hitchcock
Ivan the Terrible - Sergei M. Eisenstein
The Godfather - Francis Ford Coppola
Touch of Evil - Orson Welles
The Wind - Victor Sjöström
2001: A Space Odyssey - Stanley Kubrick
Fanny and Alexander - Ingmar Bergman
The Crowd - King Vidor
8 1/2 - Federico Fellini
La Jetée - Chris Marker
Pierrot le Fou - Jean-Luc Godard
Confessions of a Cheat (Le Roman d'un tricheur) - Sacha Guitry
Amarcord - Federico Fellini
Beauty and the Beast (La Belle et la Bête) - Jean Cocteau
Some Like It Hot - Billy Wilder
Some Came Running - Vincente Minnelli
Gertrud - Carl Theodor Dreyer
King Kong - Ernst Shoedsack & Merian J. Cooper
Laura - Otto Preminger
The Seven Samurai - Akira Kurosawa
The 400 Blows - François Truffaut
La Dolce Vita - Federico Fellini
The Dead - John Huston
Trouble in Paradise - Ernst Lubitsch
It's a Wonderful Life - Frank Capra
Monsieur Verdoux - Charlie Chaplin
The Passion of Joan of Arc - Carl Theodor Dreyer
À bout de souffle - Jean-Luc Godard
Apocalypse Now - Francis Ford Coppola
Barry Lyndon - Stanley Kubrick
La Grande Illusion - Jean Renoir
Intolerance - David Wark Griffith
A Day in the Country (Partie de campagne) - Jean Renoir
Playtime - Jacques Tati
Rome, Open City - Roberto Rossellini
Livia (Senso) - Luchino Visconti
Modern Times - Charlie Chaplin
Van Gogh - Maurice Pialat
An Affair to Remember - Leo McCarey
Andrei Rublev - Andrei Tarkovsky
The Scarlet Empress - Joseph von Sternberg
Sansho the Bailiff - Kenji Mizoguchi
Talk to Her - Pedro Almodóvar
The Party - Blake Edwards
Tabu - Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau
The Bandwagon - Vincente Minnelli
A Star Is Born - George Cukor
Mr. Hulot's Holiday - Jacques Tati
America, America - Elia Kazan
El - Luis Buñuel
Kiss Me Deadly - Robert Aldrich
Once Upon a Time in America - Sergio Leone
Daybreak (Le Jour se lève) - Marcel Carné
Letter from an Unknown Woman - Max Ophüls
Lola - Jacques Demy
Manhattan - Woody Allen
Mulholland Dr. - David Lynch
My Night at Maud's (Ma nuit chez Maud) - Eric Rohmer
Night and Fog (Nuit et Brouillard) - Alain Resnais
The Gold Rush - Charlie Chaplin
Scarface - Howard Hawks
Bicycle Thieves - Vittorio de Sica
Napoléon - Abel Gance

Terrific Jose Benazeraf site!

www.josebenazeraf.fr


Thanks to Klaus...

I'll be adding a hot link to the sidebar. Check it out for numerous high quality videos, posters, photo galleries, information on DVDs, an upcoming retrospective and much more!

SIDA: LA PESTE DEL SIGLO XX: AIDS, THE 20 THE CENTURY PLAGUE (1986)

Francoise Blanchard as LA MORTE VIVANTE...



Ms Blanchard went on to appear in the Jess Franco related Oasis des filles perdues, NEVROSE, GOLDEN TEMPLE AMAZONS and SIDA: LA PESTE DEL SIGLO XX...


SIDA: LA PESTE DEL SIGLO XX: AIDS, THE 20 THE CENTURY PLAGUE (1986)


Yönetmen: Jesus Franco

Yapım Yılı: 1986
Firma: Golden Films Internacional S.A.
Dil: İspanyolca
Ülke: İspanya
Görüntü: Renkli
Ses Düzeni: Mono
Oyuncular:
(Roller) Françoise Blanchard
Bill Hoversten
Ricardo Palacios
Michel Rollin
Lina Romay
Ikki Vargas

Müzik: Daniel White

Senaryo: Brian Epstein (yazar)
Jesus Franco (yazar)
Marius Lesoeur (yazar) (A.L. Mariaux)

Yapımcılar: Emilio Larraga


Who are the heroes and who are the villains in Jess Franco's outrageously conceived and titled AIDS exploitation project? Or is everyone a victim? Probably, but it's equally probable we won't ever get to see it on a future DVD considering it's reportedly locked up by Eurocine. Nzoog has just reminded me over at the discussion of this on CINEMADROME that Cronenberg was already there in terms of AIDS allegories and I wonder if THEY CAME FROM WITHIN (1975) and RABID (1976) would make a good triple bill with SHINING SEX... (1975), and I wonder if either Franco or Cronenberg were aware of each other's work at the time.

Ricardo Palacios is also in SIDA..., a villain in many Jess Franco and Hollywood films including ATTACK OF THE ROBOTS, THE BLOOD OF FU MANCHU, THE WIND AND THE LION, TAKE A HARD RIDE and THE SPIKES GANG, among others. His face, if not his name, is a familiar one from international coproductions [especially numerous Spaghetti Westerns] with Spain since the 1960s. Hear his voice as the narrator of Jess Franco's 1983 LOS BLUES CALLE POP... . He still looms large in SIDA: LA PESTE DEL SIGLO XX... I can picture him in the Dr. Seward/alien hunter role, which Jess Franco played in SHINING SEX. And who is Bill Hoversten? Michael Rollin is the son of the superior French character actor, Georges Rollin [of Franco's LA MUERTE SILBA UN BLUES and EL LLANERO).

Shot under the title MISSION SIDA for Emilio Larraga's GOLDEN FILMS INTERNACIONAL SA company it is a re staging of SHINING SEX-la fille au sexe brillant (1975) and was shot very much in the style of BANGKOK, CITA CON LA MUERTE and LA ESCLAVA BLANCA, both 1985 micro-budgeted action genre productions lensed by Juan Soler with his typically luminous compositions. At that timeFranco and Soler were using Agfacolor stock to shoot a flurry of cheaper porno titles [EL MIRON Y LA EXHIBICIONISTA] with excellent results at the time.

Francoise Blanchard, the pathetic title character in Jean Rollin's LA MORTE VIVANTE is the female lead. While Lina Romay, who played the stricken protagonist in SHINING SEX is also in this remake. A disease which has been fatal to so many for decades and a worldwide scourge, is hardly a first-thought exploitation subject. But fatal diseases are often the subtext of horror films, if SIDA... can be considered horror at all.

Yet another notorious title in a career of notorious titles.

I'll be reviewing the rarely seen 100m version of SHINING SEX: LA FILLE AU SEXE BRILLANT at some point in the future. However, don't hold your breath for SIDA: LA PESTE DEL SIGLO XX.

(c) Robert Monell, 2008

QUIZ

Who is this actress and in which Jess Franco film does she appear?

NOTE: The image above is not from the Franco film in question, but you get extra points for identifying the title from which the screenshot is taken. Remember, all these extra points add up toward a chance to be on board the 2009 European Trash Cinema cruise to....

JESS FRANCO TO RECEIVE 2008 GOYA AWARD

Thanks to Alex Mendibil for informing me that the Spanish Academy of Art and Cinematographic Sciences has honored Jess Franco with the 2008 Goya Award for his career in cinema. Spain's main national film award and the equivalent of Hollywood's Academy Award, it was established in 1987. Previous winners include Pedro Almodovar and Penelope Cruz.

I copied over this quote and information from Alex's post on my CINEMADROME site:

"It's such a pleasure and a great honor. I never expected any recognition for my career. I'm delighted and, as I never felt to deserve anything, it's a beautiful present." said Franco after knowing the news. The XXIII Goya Awards Ceremony is being held on 1st February, 2009.

With this prestigious award and the comprehensive Cinematheque Francaise retrospective earlier this year 2008 can now be termed The Year Of Jess Franco!


Congratulations Jess!

Favorite Jess Franco Performances?

As the writer in EXORCISM (1974)...


Walking the lonely path a few years late in THE SADIST OF NOTRE DAME (1980)



As agent Tino Celli in THE DEVIL CAME FROM AKASAVA (1970)


As the torturer in DIE SKLAVINNEN

Jess Franco has appeared as an actor in many of his own films [frequently in Hitchcockian cameos] as well as in other directors, notably as Venancio in the late Fernando Fernan Gomez's EL EXTRANO VIAJE (1964). I have not seen this rather obscure but highly regarded black comedy but I hope it sooner or later gets a proper R1 DVD presentation.

I wanted to conduct an up-to-date poll on favorite Jess Franco's performances in his or other director's films. Of course he has the lead in both EXORCISME (1974) and its 1980 remix EL SADICO DEL NOTRE DAME but one of my favorites is the babbling idiot/voyeur in MACUMBA SEXUAL. Jess manages to be simultaneously amusing and unsettling among his petrified deep sea dwellers.

I would like to add that his performances are always more effective when his own voice is used. It has a distinctive tone which he can alter and control quite skillfully as when he voices Juan Cozar's character in GEMIDOS DE PLACER.

In his own work his acting career ranges from a glimpsed piano player in GRITOS EN LA NOCHE to the sinister sage in DR WONG'S VIRTUAL HELL.

What are some of your favorite Jess Franco performances?

JOSE BENAZERAF VIDEO!

How about HD quality R1 DVD presentations of Jose Benazeraf's classic erotica?


R1 DVD of US redo of Benazeraf's 1962 sexy Eurocrime item LE CONCERTO DE LA PEUR, imported and fucked over by Bob Creese and R. Lee Frost...

Thanks to paroxismus for posting a link on my cinemadrome site to an excellent 8m video interview with the legendary director of dozens of erotic films from the 1960s onward, Jose Benazeraf. It's in French but this is a must-see even if you don't understand the language due to numerous clips from many of his key works including the notorious and rarely seen JOE CALIGULA which was banned in France in 1966 and in dire need of being fully restored on a HD R1 DVD presentation along with the director's other erotic classics such as L'ETERNITE POUR NOUS (1961), LE DESIRABLE ET LE SUBLIME (1969), both of which are represented on the video as well as a glimpses of his work with Brigitte Lahaie. And you'll also hear some Jess Franco related music.

The interview was conducted in 2007. Benazeraf discusses his films, eroticism and French politics among other topics. The clips from JOE CALIGULA, which was shot in b&w in 1965, reveal a nihilistic crime-noir aesthetic which seems very similar to Godard's A BOUT DE SOUFFLE (1959), BAND OF OUTSIDERS (1964) and certain Nouvelle Vague films by Rivette, Chabrol and Truffaut from that heady period.

Just click the link on the left sidebar to watch the video.


Thanks to Alex

(C) Robert Monell, 2008

RETURN OF THE VIDEO NASTIES...

The Most Dangerous Movie!


BANNED OUTRIGHT: "Depraved"? You bet, and so was THE WEREWOLF AND THE YETI... If that wasn't banned imagine the threat of rampaging Yeti to the population of the UK!


The original SAW?



The list is from WIKIPEDIA just to illustrate how things have changed since this was published by the UK DPP in 1983. I understand that at least one person went to jail in the UK for selling a film on the list. Note that three JF films are on here, including DEVIL HUNTER and BLOODY MOON, both now released on DVD by Severin Films. I guess the more recent SAW and HOSTEL movies passed the BBFC uncut. They're just no-problem family entertainment. Right? Was the stone mill saw sequence in BLOODY MOON a possible inspiration? I'm just asking? I guess that all these films can now be sold and owned in the UK with no problems. Don't worry... Be happy... It can't happen again... Can it?

Absurd (original/alternate titles: Rosso Sangue, Anthropophagus 2 — released with 2m 32s cut in 1983)
The Anthropophagous Beast (original title: Antropophagus — released with approximately 3m of pre-cuts in 2002)
Axe! (original title: Lisa, Lisa — re-released uncut in 2005)
The Beast in Heat (original title: La bestia in Calore) (Banned outright)
The Beyond (original title: E tu vivrai nel terrore - L'Aldilà — re-released uncut in 2001)
Blood Feast (re-released uncut in 2005)
Blood rites (original title: The Ghastly Ones) (Banned outright)
Bloody Moon (original title: Die Säge des Todes — released with 1m 20s cut in 1993)
The Boogeyman (original title: The Boogeyman — re-released uncut in 2000)
The Burning (re-released uncut in 2001)
Cannibal Apocalypse (original title: Apocalypse Domani — released with 2s cut in 2005)
Cannibal Ferox (alternat title: Make them Die Slowly. released with approximately 5m of pre-cuts plus 6s of additional cuts in 2000)
Cannibal Holocaust (released in 2001 with 5m 44s cut to remove all scenes of animal cruelty)
Cannibal Man (original title: La Semana del Asesino — released with 3s cut in 1993)
Cannibal Terror (original title: Terror Caníbal — released uncut in 2003)
Contamination (released uncut in 2004 with a 15 rating)
Dead & Buried (re-released uncut in 2004)
Death Trap (original title: Eaten Alive — re-released uncut in 2000)
Deep River Savages (original/alternate title: Il paese del sesso selvaggio, Man from Deep River. — released with 3m 45s cut in 2003)
Delirium (released with 16s cut in 1987)( was also called psycho puppet)
Devil Hunter (original title: Il cacciatore di uomini) (Banned outright)
Don't Go In The House (released with 3m 7s cut in 1987)
Don't Go in the Woods (released uncut in 2007)
Don't Go Near the Park (released uncut in 2006)
Don't Look in the Basement (original title: The Forgotten — released uncut in 2005 with a 15 rating)
The Dorm That Dripped Blood — re-released with 10s cut in 2001) (Alternate title: Pranks)
The Driller Killer (released with cuts in 1999 - re-released uncut in 2002)
The Evil Dead (re-released uncut in 2001)
Evilspeak (re-released uncut in 1999)
Exposé (re-released with approximately 30s cut in 2006)
Faces of Death (released with 2m 19s cut in 2003)
Fight For Your Life (Banned outright)
Flesh for Frankenstein (re-released uncut in 2006) (Alternate title: Andy Warhol's Frankenstein)
Forest of Fear (original title: Bloodeaters) (Banned outright)
Frozen Scream (Banned outright)
The Funhouse (released uncut in 1987)
Gestapo's Last Orgy (original title: L'ultima orgia del III Reich) (Banned outright)
The House by the Cemetery (original title: Quella villa accanto al cimitero — re-released with 33s cut in 2001)
House on the Edge of the Park (original title: La casa sperduta nel parco — released with 11m 43s cut in 2002)
Human Experiments (released with 26s cut in 1994)
I Miss You, Hugs and Kisses (released with 1m 6s cut in 1986)
I Spit On Your Grave (original title: Day of the Woman — released with 7m 2s cut in 2001)
Inferno (re-released with 20s cut in 1993)
Island of Death (original title: Ta Pedhia tou dhiavolou — released with 4m 9s cut in 2002)
Killer Nun (original title: Suor Omicidi — re-released uncut in 2006)
The Last House on the Left (passed uncut on the 17th March, 2008)
Late Night Trains (original title: L'ultimo treno della notte — released uncut in 2008)
Living Dead At Manchester Morgue (original title: Non si deve profanare il sonno dei morti — re-released uncut in 2002)
Love Camp 7 (refused a certificate in 2002) (Banned outright)
Madhouse (original title: There Was a Little Girl — released uncut in 2004)
Mardi Gras Massacre (Banned outright)
Night of the Bloody Apes (original title: La Horripilante bestia humana — released with approximately 1m of pre-cuts in 1999)
Night of the Demon (released with 1m 41s cut in 1994)
Nightmare Maker (Banned outright)
Nightmare in a Damaged Brain (re-released with pre-cuts in 2005)(Alternate title: Nightmare)
Possession (released uncut in 1999)
Prisoner of the Cannibal God (original title: La montagna del dio cannibale — released with 2m 6s cut in 2001)
Revenge of the Bogey Man (original title: Boogeyman II — released with additional footage in 2003)
Shogun Assassin (re-released uncut in 1999)
The Slayer (re-released uncut in 2001)
Snuff (released uncut in 2003)
SS Experiment Camp (original title: Lager SSadis Kastrat Kommandantur — released uncut in 2005)
Tenebrae (original title: Tenebre — re-released uncut in 2003)
Terror Eyes (original title: Night School — released with 1m 16s cut in 1987)
The Toolbox Murders (released with 1m 46s cut in 2000)
Twitch of the Death Nerve (original title: Reazione a catena — released with 43s cut in 1994) (2 alternate titles: Bay Of Blood, Carnage)
Unhinged (released uncut in 2004)
Visiting Hours (released with approximately 2m cut in 1986)
The Werewolf and the Yeti (original title: La Maldición de la bestia) (Banned outright)
The Witch Who Came From the Sea (released uncut in 2006)
Women Behind Bars (original French title: Des diamants pour l'enfer) (Banned outright)
Xtro (released uncut in 1987)
Zombie Creeping Flesh (original title: Virus — released uncut in 2002)
Zombie Flesh Eaters (original title: Zombi 2 — re-released uncut in 2005) (alternate title: Zombie)

JESS FRANCO HALLOWEEN COSTUMES!

The Dolmance Red Smoking Jacket [modelled by Christopher Lee]



Female Cat Burglar Mask [modelled by Janine Reynaud]


The BLUE RITA Gas Mask [modelled by Pamela Stanford]


The Skull [modelled by Guess Who?]


The Killer Couple Ensemble [modelled by Paul Muller and Soledad Miranda]



The Frankenstein Monster [modelled by Fernando Bilbao]

This Week's Quiz

What is the name of this German film and television director and who is the popular pulp fiction author whose books he, and Jess Franco, adapted into a number films during the 1960s and 1970s? Extra points if you can identify all the film titles of these adaptations which he and Franco made.

DEVIL HUNTER/EL CANIBAL: the Severin DVD

Mandingo Manhunter meets Cannibal Man!

Starlet Laura Crawford (Ursula Buchfellner) is abducted after arriving in a South American city. The kidnappers take her to the remote jungle island of Porto Santa Ana and contact her US based producer demanding a six million dollar ransom. Soldier of fortune Peter Weston (Al Cliver aka Pier Luigi Conti) is hired to deliver the money, bring the victim back safely and hopefully trick the criminals out of the loot and save the producer's investment in her publicity! In the meantime, a huge, nude cannibal god roams the island, kept alive by sacrificial victims fed to him by the local tribe. When the money exchange goes awry the kidnappers, Weston and Laura Crawford are trapped on the island without means of escaping the hungry monster.

Preposterous as the above plot set up is I have always enjoyed SEXO CANIBAL, at least somewhat more than the even more ridiculous, and disgusting, MONDO CANNIBALE/CANNIBALS, its 1980 flesh eating companion. That's not saying much, but I have a high tolerance for European Trash cinema. I still find it rather amazing that it took four countries, Italy, Spain, France, and Germany, to pony up the funds for this slapdash action-adventure-sex-gore spectacle.



Severin's rather glossy 1.85:1/16:9 anamorphic transfer of Jess Franco's 1980 expedition into Cannibal Exploitation terrain has been eagerly awaited and I can say I'm very pleased that they have unearthed a rather terrific looking (for the most part) 101+m print. I'm especially happy to have finally seen the opening scene which was covered by the opening credit cards in the abysmal late 1980s TWE video, THE MAN HUNTER, which I rented out from BLOCKBUSTER two decades ago, copied and have suffered through ever since. That's illegal and That's Dedication!

I sampled the French language track and, as I suspected, found that the film plays somewhat better with it as far as I'm concerned, English language subtitles are included as is the vintage English language track (which adds to its Grindhouse ambiance). Onscreen title: EL CANIBAL.

I can also report that the David Gregory documentary interview with Uncle Jess, SEXO CANIBAL, is brimming with our favorite director's cigarette smoking antics along with behind-the-scenes glimpses into the making of a film in a genre the director scorned with little in the way of resources [the famous bug-eyed look of the nude, towering Cannibal {NOT Burt Altman but a Portuguese-African gymnastic champion} was created by utilizing ping-pong balls with tiny eyeholes]. He also comments about working with Al Cliver, Ursula Buchfellner (whom Jess found to be more talented than MONDO CANNIBALE's Sabrina Siani, whom he ungraciously terms "a piece of...meat"), adding his rather interesting analysis of Ruggero Deodato's CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST (1979). A lot of information and entertainment packed into just over a quarter of an hour.


Severin's DEVIL HUNTER is at least 10 minutes longer than any version I've seen and now has the feel of a fullscale Eurosleaze Epic. Besides the previously blocked out footage at the beginning there's a lot of extra nude native dancing with Franco's telezoom exploring the exposed genitalia of the black dancer and Ms Buchfeller. There's even one shot, through the spread legs of native leader Claude Boisson revealing that he didn't wear any underwear beneath his native shirt. Too much information! The final struggle between the nude black cannibal and Al Cliver is also longer. There is also some extended dialogue in various scenes.

This is an interesting, luminous transfer of vault elements which sometimes is a bit soft, almost fogged, but that looks due to shooting conditions as much of his film seems to have been shot out of focus. That's not unusual in a Franco production (cf FEMALE VAMPIRE) but the POV shots of the cannibal are obviously deliberately either unfocused or filtered with something and the non POV shots of the cannibal's encounters with various human meals are also fogged. For me it just adds to the sense of jungle delirium and sex-gore transgression. Purists may be less forgiving. In terms of color it certainly looks better than ever beflore.

The vintage English language track is very full-bodied, some may say loud, and since most of the characters are Americans I guess it works. I'm just pleased that both the English and French tracks were included. The interview is really worth the price of admission. Jess is in full-cannibal-ridicule mode and I had to break out in sustained laughter as he describes how in the Italian cannibal films of that era they always eat the "nasty" parts rather than the "nice" parts like "tits." Jess once again proves to be a world class raconteur.

Although it wasn't his idea and he still dislikes the cannibal-exploitation genre Jess seems to have enjoyed doing this more than CANNIBALS aka MONDO CANNIBALE even though he seems to be less talented at action-adventure than jungle fairy tales. He notes that this was a "monster" movie for him rather than a cannibal film, the monster just happens to like to eat people and is the god of the locals. As far as Franco's 1980s jungle filmography goes I personally prefer his non-cannibal LA ESCLAVA BLANCA (1985), a even more low-budget and "naive" jungle outing which delights as a perfect Saturday Matinee item.

(C) Robert Monell 2008

BLOODY MOON: Severin DVD

International Boarding School of Languages, Alicante: During a dance at the language school for young women the facially deformed Miguel (Alexander Waechter) steals a Mickey Mouse mask and stalks an attractive student, brutally stabbing her to death in bungalow #13 to stop her horrified screams when she discovers his grotesque features. Several years later Dr. Domingo Aunous (another cameo by Uncle Jess) releases Miguel from psychiatric confinement into the care of his sister Manuela (Nadja Gerganhoff), the lover of Alvaro, the language school's director who is trying to cover up his financial mismangement. The couple are mistrusted by the elderly Countess, who controls the family fortune and intends to disinherit niece Manuela, leaving Miguel set to inherit the Countess' considerable estate.

But Miguel will become a key suspect when several of the new batch of female students are found murdered in cursed bungalow #13. Is this all a plot by Manuela and Alvaro to set up Miguel? You bet. In the meantime the frantic imagination of the recently arrived Angela (Olivia Pascal), looking more like a runway model than a student, becomes overstimulated as the killer begins to leave body parts in her room like ritual offerings.



Depite the presence of the Franco's familiar Toxic Family Syndrome this attempt at a HALLOWEEN/FRIDAY THE 13TH type slasher film borrows many plot points, characters and images from those films as well as Mario Bava's superior 1971 template, BAY OF BLOOD, Hitchcock's PSYCHO and the 1970s output of Brain De Palma. One of the director's most impersonal works, he winks at the material by casting himself as the smug psychiatrist, DIE SAGE DES TODES [onscreen title] does have some incidental interest, particularly in the sexual tension developed in the relationship between the manipulative Manuela and the predator/victim Miguel.

Franco includes a series of rhyming telezoom shots from the craters of the moon to the voluptuous Manuela bathing her nude torso in the nimbus of the celestial body. The victims are skewered, garroted, beheaded by circular saw in the most infamous scene, the mutilated bodies hung from coat hangers, light fixtures and under the bedding of the endlessly terror-stricken heroine. This is all intercut with much juvenile horsing around by the students as they flirt with the male staff and lounge around the swimming pool in bikinis. You get the picture.

Directing the by-the-numbers action with detached professionalism, the director points out in the amusing accompanying interview he had little regard for production manager Erich Tomek's script (credited to a nonexistent "Rayo Casablanca") and the "easy listening" disco style score of Gerhard Heinz (he was promised a Pink Floyd composed score), both of which were imposed on him by the German production company.

As a 1980s-era body count movie BLOODY MOON is more stylish and has more going for it than most FRIDAY, THE 13TH sequels. Franco had a fairly healthy budget and it appears that the director's usual ironic touches were held in strict check. The director makes some interesting points about the banality, cliches and limitations of the slasher film genre in the featurette interview, FRANCO MOON. He notes that although BLOODY MOON had twice the budget of another 1980 Lisa Film German-Spanish production, LINDA aka Orgia de Ninfomanas, that film is much richer in terms of his personal touches and that he had more creative freedom. The focus in LINDA is on eroticism rather than gore and suspense as in BLOODY MOON. Eroticism is a Jess Franco specialty whereas gore effects and conventional plotting are obviously not.


Franco also recounts how he was asked to provide a film with fifty shock moments, many more than the baker's dozen in BAY OF BLOOD. He delivered them but without the panache of a Mario Bava or a Dario Argento. A knife through the breast is a knife through the breast here and it may be shocking to see someone suddenly get chainsawed in half but the shock is gone within two seconds. The lingering on the girl riding the slab toward the buzz saw is effective but as soon as her [obviously prosthetic) head is sheared off and a jet of blood shoots from her torso the mind clicks into suspension of disbelief mode.

For BLOODY MOON's R1 DVD debut Severin has come up with richly colorful (Juan Cozar's cinematography comes off much better here than in past VHS/DVD incarnations with some particularly gorgeous shades of blue on display), nearly pristine elements and provide this admittedly lower tier effort with a razor sharp, eyeopening 1.85:1/16:9 widescreen anamorphic transfer which is far superior to the previous German R2 DVD. The film is presented with its familiar, vintage English language track, but the credits indicate a German source print. BLOODY MOON has never looked this good on any home video presentation and I don't doubt that this will be the definitive version. Whatever its shortcomings this High Definition transfer certainly greatly enhances its entertainment value.

An English language trailer is also included.

CLAIRE: Joe D'Amato composite

Joe's back.... and up to his old tricks again!



I'm looking for some exact information on CLAIRE, a very obscure 1979 "composite" put together by Joe D'Amato, reportedly intended as a porn item which combined scenes from a Jess Franco film, a B Lahaie film and a D'Amato film into a new stand-alone feature. Credits from Franco's 1978 ELLES FONT TOUT, one of his last Robert De Nesle produced hardcores, are included.

Has anyone actually seen this? I'm wondering which D'Amato and Lahaie films were edited in with the Franco footage.

I would also be very interested in any information on where to find adverts/promotional material for this film. Thanks.

This Week's Quiz

The questions are: Who is the Spanish actor-director seen above in an image from one of the 1960s Spaghetti Westerns in which he appeared? He would go on to become involved in two Jess Franco films. Please name those films and identify the exact nature of his involvement.


Thanks to Bertrand Van Wonterghem for the image.

THE JESS FRANCO-BURT KWOUK CONUNDRUM

Burt Kwouk played a villain in THE BRIDES OF FU MANCHU (1966) who got cut and pasted into Jess Franco's THE CASTLE OF FU MANCHU (1969). How's that again?

Burt Kwouk looks like he's mad in the above image... Is he steamed at Jess Franco?


Burt Kwouk as a villain in another mid 1960's cult movie... well, let's just say the image is not from THE BRIDES OF FU MANCHU or THE CASTLE OF FU MANCHU.


Having picked up the new Warner Brothers DVD of Don Sharp's THE BRIDES OF FU MANCHU I was amused to see again the "safety lock" scene [that's what I call it] toward the end of the film wherein Fu Manchu (Christoper Lee) and henchman Feno (Burt Kwouk) argue over the "safety maximum" registered on the "Quadrature" gauge reading of the control room. This operation is brought to a climax with Fu Manchu summarily executing his assistant who falls on the safety lock unleashing doom on the innocent. Burt has held his own against Christopher Lee and paid the price...

The elaborately detailed control room complete with all kinds of dials, blinking lights, levers, glowing electrodes, et al may look familiar as does this entire scene. And it is if you've seen Jess Franco's THE CASTLE OF FU MANCHU made three years later in Spain for the same producer-writer, Harry Alan Towers. Franco/Towers cut and pasted this entire scene into the opening of CASTLE... intercut with yet more stock footage from Roy Ward Baker's unrelated Titanic epic A NIGHT TO REMEMBER and other films.

They didn't care a damn about continuity or poor Burt Kwouk, best known as Cato of the PINK PANTHER films, who doesn't get billed in CASTLE (I wonder if he even got royalties?). This is all meant as a light hearted interlude and not intended to be taken at all seriously or meant as an accusation against anyone. Both Burt and Jess turned 78 this year and one hopes that Burt is blissfully unaware of the matter. Both films are fun in their own unique way and who cares if THE CASTLE OF FU MANCHU pretty much sunk (like the Titanic) the long running film franchise. In any case, my favorite was THE MASK OF FU MANCHU (1932) with Boris Karloff, who nailed Fu Manchu forever. Burt Kwouk went on to a busy, successful career as a popular character actor in numerous films and TV shows.

My review of the new Warner Brothers DVD is on my cinemadrome site www.cinemadrome.yuku.com or just click on the link at the top of the sidebar at far left.

Jess Franco Quiz

Who is this actor and what Jess Franco film is this image from?

THE MARQUIS DE SADE EXPERIENCE

"Dave Tough" disguised as Joe D'Amato...

I'm looking for any type of graphics, adverts, stills, promotional material from Jess Franco's very obscure and difficult to see hardcore effort, DE SADE'S JULIETTE (1975), featuring Jess Franco historian {MANACOA FILES}, actor {TENDER FLESH}, and screenwriter PLAISIR A TROIS, Alain Petit. This French-Portugal co-production promptly sunk into oblivion after garnering abysmal reviews, including a stinging one from Franco friend-actor (FEMALE VAMPIRE) J.P Bouyxou in SEX STAR SYSTEM.

This was reportedly JF's first hardcore feature (shot as hc, rather than just a softcore with added hc inserts) and I know where the film resides now but I would like to see any original adverts for a special project and a possible future DVD release. Any help would be much appreciated. You can email me at monell579@hotmail.com or direct me through the comment area below.

Franco signed DE SADE'S JULIETTE as "Dave Tough", the only time he used that name (in homage to a favorite Jazz musician). Parts of this can be seen in the Joe D'Amato composite JUSTINE (1979), mixed in with footage from SHINING SEX and MIDNIGHT PARTY (both 1975). More about D'Amato's JUSTINE and other versions in a future blog.

Any information on graphic materials for D'Amato's JUSTINE would also be welcome. Thanks again for reading.

(c) Robert Monell, 2008

DEVIL HUNTER DVD NEWS

There is a fascinating thread on the upcoming Severin release of Jess Franco's DEVIL HUNTER over at the Mobius Home Video Forum's European cult cinema board [http://z8.invisionfree.co...?showtopic=9648&st=0] focusing on some of the expectations and some of the frustrations faced when putting a complete as possible version of this sought-after title together for a definitive DVD. I'm also waiting for some further clarifications from SEVERIN and will report anything additional here. I must say that I'm pleased they are taking the time and care to do these right.




Here's the most recent update copied from the Severin website:

[Copied from the Severin website]
The nightmare of Franco restoration

As some of you have no doubt noticed, all of our recent releases have missed their street dates. This is due to a number of factors, not least the extra attention we gave to The Inglorious Bastards which took our attentions away from all subsequent titles for several weeks. Please see the new street dates below for our upcoming titles.

Then there's the nightmare of the two latest Franco titles: Bloody Moon and Devil Hunter. In all the hundreds of DVDs we've been involved with producing, these two have been among the most problematic. With Bloody Moon it was a case of the negative missing a few seconds of violence. We went to the trouble of checking the original negative against an old VHS release of the film and saw no differences. The problem was that the VHS we were supplied with from a Franco authority was also cut! It was only when we received the finished Hi Def master from Germany that we realized the problem. A search ensued for film elements of the missing footage but turned up nothing. The only existing film prints in Germany were also shorn of this footage and we could turn up no other prints in countries that the film was released theatrically. The footage was considered lost except for VHS versions of the film. We incorporated the footage into the master from a VHS source but it looked terrible, particularly when compared to the beautiful Hi Def transfer from the negative. Then the German licensor unearthed a broadcast master that had been struck from an uncut print. We were then able to incorporate the footage into the film.

Devil Hunter looked like it was going to be much more straightforward. We had our new Hi Def transfer compared to releases of the film from all around the world by a Eurocult scholar. He happily reported to us that our version was the most complete in the world, containing footage that was not available in any released version. He also urged us to include the French track on the disc as it was a far superior track to the English dub. We were happy to oblige. However, our master did not contain the French track, even though the check disc we had sent to the scholar for comparison purposes did. There was no explanation forthcoming from the lab in Madrid as to why this would be. We had the scholar ship his check disc to us but it got lost in the mail. So we had another Franco expert ship us a DVD-R of a French version to us. Lo and behold this French version was some sort of bastardized TV cut short by 10 minutes. It looked like we would have to go without the French track until we were informed that a copy of the DVD-R had been created before it shipped to the scholar.

Both of these films are now finally off to authoring. If there are no major problems with the check discs then they will be released on the dates below.

Apologies to our Severin loyals for these delays and we will be making every effort in the future to ensure that this kind of backlog does not happen.

Bloody Moon, Devil Hunter and In the Folds of the Flesh will now be released on 28 October.

Jess Franco's Friend

Up periscope... A few blogs back we noted an Easter Egg on the new Severin CANNIBAL TERROR DVD on which Uncle Jess discusses his involvement with the enjoyably impoverished French-Spanish Le Bad Cinema classic, ZOMBIE LAKE (19800. Can anyone name the prolific Jess Franco actor/friend/colleague in the above image? You can also attempt to list the numerous appearances he has made in JF films over the last four decades. If that's too daunting a task how about your favorite performance by this very capable and underrated actor...


Leading the attack on the village...


Drinking with buddies before incineration...

LA CRIPTA DE LAS MUJERES MALDITA (2008): GUEST REVIEW

Jess Franco: Still breaking the rules, subverting the system and confounding expectations...



Many thanks to Alex, the creator of El Franconomicon, for writing and translating this review of Jess Franco's newest film.


INT: Fata Morgana, Carmen Montes…
POSPRODUCCIÓN: Lina Romay, Puri Luquero.
GUIÓN Y DIRECCIÓN: Jess Franco
2008. Manacoa Films. Rodada en Málaga entre 2007 y 2008. 150 min. Color.



Reviewed & translated by ALEX MENDIBIL

(c) ALEX MENDIBIL: 2008, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED


A group of women, maybe ghosts or demons, are locked in the crypt of a cemetery, condemned by an old curse of more than 100 years. They can't get away, enclosed between the walls of a lost pantheon, punished for something they committed in a previous existence. However, this kind of succubus, lascivious and wicked, doesn't seem to suffer from the curse and spend their time in all sorts of sexual games, year after year, century after century, ignorant of the exterminating angel who lurks and seeks to destroy them forever.

With this simple plot, told by a voice-over and some superimposed titles, Jess Franco composes his longest and more experimental film. A lesbian porno in two parts where scenes of non-stop-slow-motion sex set the rhythm of a story in which time doesn't exist, despite the passing of centuries as the narrator tells us. Franco said in one interview that he had been inspired by the works of the gothic writer Nathaniel Hawthorne, but in fact tells a untellabe story, in the sense that there are no events to tell, there is no narration, no knot, just a short presentation and denouement. Between one and another, the director immerses the viewer in a dimensionless limbo, a hypnotic succession of erotic and pornographic images that try to evoke the hundred years of time suspension of the curse. In a more conventional movie, this would be resolved with a one minute ellipsis, but the director decided to make that ellipsis the complete film, as if he wanted to involve the audience in the harsh punishment suffered by these women.

This decision, clearly anti-cinematic, at least in mainstream cinema, fits with the gradual annihilation of cinematic clichés that Jess Franco is trying since the eighties, which has hardened to the extreme in the last video years, as in LA CRIPTA. The 80's Golden Films productions showed how the Franco universe could get rid of some of its essential elements without losing its essence. In films such as MACUMBA SEXUAL (1981) or EL SINIESTRO DR. ORLOFF (1982) we deal with familiar themes and classic gothic characters like the vampire or the mad-doctor, but without all the acting, set-ups or typical wardrobes. Castles, candles, crucifixes, cemeteries and sci-fi machinery were replaced by extravagant beach houses, fashionable clothing and everyday objects. The result was disconcerting, but somehow managed to articulate a less figurative language, more abstract, in which the renewed versions of Orloff, Al Pereira, Radek or Red Lips still had sense. With the shift to video from late 90's, the destruction of the classic cinema code was definitive: no set-ups at all, or overtly fake sets, natural lighting, direct sound, video distorting effects, and above all, non-professional actors doing very histrionic playing or, in the other hand, very naturalistic, almost cinéma vérité. Any device used to maintain the illusion of cinema is removed or deformed to the parody, as if he would like to emphasize the death of that former cinema and propose an unrepresentative cinema, a cinema abstract (1).

In LA CRIPTA DE LAS MUJERES MALDITAS, the rupture with mainstream cinema is complete. The film takes place in closed rooms half-empty and white, apart from that the only thing we are allow to see are a few images of a cemetery repeated in a loop and the blurred image of a angel shaped statue that illustrate the final battle against the damned women. We know about that battle by the voice over, since the image only shows abstractions, difficult to decipher at times. Adding to all of the above (lack of set-ups, costumes, performances, video effects… etc.), Franco finally gets rid of the last two pillars of classic cinema: the director and the screenplay. As told before, it's a story without story but Jess Franco goes further and invents a funny trick to show that he too disappears from the shooting, making the characters to shoot the film with video cameras and, thanks to some strategically placed mirrors, discovering that nobody is directing them on the set.

Fata Morgana, the real protagonist of the film, assistant director and cinematographer, makes the film literally in front of our eyes, shooting and playing one of the cursed women at the same time. Nothing is hidden, everything is exposed: lightning, cables, the micro and even the back of the camera. It is not a video documentary, not video-creation, not experimental video, it's another thing which we still have no name for. The only concession to the genre seems like a William Castle style joke: at the half point of the film we read a "to be continued…" title, fade to black, beginning again shortly after the "Part 2", following with the same movie. According to Jess Franco, this is his own version of the double-bill features in the GRINDHOUSE (2007) style.

(1) Being the exception to this trend SNAKEWOMAN, where Jess Franco makes a film in the classic cinema standards, despite being shot on video.

(c) Alex Mendibil 2008

El Franconomicon

El Franconomicon: "LA CRIPTA DE LAS MUJERES MALDITAS"

We'll be adding a permanent link to this new Jess Franco related blog. In the meantime, there is a Spanish language article up on Franco's newest LA CRIPTA DE LAS MUJERES MALDITAS, an experimental feature [150m] which sounds very intriguing. This was screened at the Cinematheque Francaise JF Retrospective and will hopefully be available on DVD sooner than later.

I'm hoping Alex will send an English version for our non-Spaninsh speaking readers.

Here's a paste-in from the Publico.es site:
Jesús Franco hoy

"Ahora hago, incluso más que antes, aquellas cosas que no me dejaron hacer. Luis Buñuel me dijo, cuando hizo El fantasma de la libertad, que era una de las muchas historias que tenía guardadas en un cajón y que no había sacado porque no le hubieran dejado hacerla antes. Yo ahora estoy haciendo eso, sin prisas. Estoy terminando La cripta de las mujeres malditas, basada en una historia de Daniel Hawthorne".

I spoke with Jess about a Nathaniel Hawthorne project in 2005, about which he seemed very enthused-describing it as a surreal horror-adventure moving freely through space-time,* but who is "Daniel Hawthorne"?!

*Jess said it would be in the spirit of DRACULA CONTRA FRANKENSTEIN (1971), which is one of his personal favorites from his filmography. I'll be reviewing the various video versions of that in the near future.

(c) Robert Monell 2008

HE WROTE IT!

I'll just go and make my own Nazi-zombies film!

"Hell no, not on THAT budget!"


On the set of ZOMBIE LAKE everyone is wondering, "Where the hell is Jess?"

Uncle Jess has finally come clean, revealing that he did indeed write the original script for the 1980 Eurocine Zombie co production, EL LAGO DE LOS MUERTOS VIVIENTES aka ZOMBIE LAKE. Franco's exact involvement has been a question mark for some time and he is not credited on the film itself. Franco appears in a surprise 6m "Easter Egg" on the new Severin CANNIBAL TERROR DVD [it can be accessed but toggling up to CANNIBAL TERROR on the main menu]. While fiddling with an unlit cigarette (light it up, Jess!) our favorite director states that he wrote the script and was set to direct but withdrew because he considered the budget to be too low[!]. Jess Franco refusing to direct a Z grade zombie film?! The budget must have been very, very, very, very low indeed. Even Jess Franco has his limits.

The first place I had heard of Jess' possible involvement was in Phil Hardy's often spurious Horror Encyclopedia and an article on Franco by Tim Lucas in an early VW issue. I also seem to remember Franco discussing this in a late 1980's issue of FANGORIA. But this is the first time of which I'm aware of Franco himself confirming that information.

ZOMBIE LAKE does seem to have some plot similarities to Franco's own LA TUMBA DE LOS MUERTOS VIVIENTES (1981) and his earlier EL SECRETO DEL DR. ORLOFF (1964). Jean Rollin also told me in an unpublished interview I conducted with him in 1990 that Franco didn't show up for the first day of shooting and he was called in on very short notice. "This is not my film," he said. I don't think he was too happy with the result, but it sure has entertained many Z movie fans over the years.

Franco also discusses Alain Deruelle, the French porn specialist who directed CANNIBAL TERROR and some other obscure Eurocine productions in the short, but fascinating interview. Check out my review of Severin's new CANNIBAL TERROR DVD presentation on my CINEMADROME site by clicking on the link at the top of the sidebar on the left.

New JEAN ROLLIN Blog

Jeremy Richey, who blogs compellingly on his highly regarded MOON IN THE GUTTER, now brings his considerable writing talents to the films of Jean Rollin with this recommended blog. I just put up a link on our list over on the left sidebar. Check it out...

ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE ESTUDIOS BALCAZAR

Más allá de Esplugas City By Rafael de España, Salvador Juan i Babot looks like an interesting, illustrated text on the once busy Spanish studio/production company which hosted many low budget Eurogenre productions, including THE CASTLE OF FU MANCHU. Jesus Balcazar is listed as a screenwriter on some prints of that 1969 Jess Franco film.

Brothers Jaime Jesus and Alfonso Balcazar also directed and wrote a number of films, including Spanish Westerns, crime and erotica.

They produced/coproduced a lot of interesting movies in their time. Spanish correspondent Nzoog provided the amusing story of how, when the popular Spaghetti Western cycle was winding down, the Balcazar's burned down the Western town they had built, filming the inferno for a future production!

Here's a list of Balcazar productions copied from the IMDB:

Production Company - filmography
Joven y la tentación, La (1986) ... Production Company Locas vacaciones (1984) ... Production Company Sechs Schwedinnen auf Ibiza (1981) ... Production Company Violadores, Los (1981) ... Production Company Primeras experiencias, Las (1975) ... Production Company Inmorales, Los (1974) ... Production Company Juergas de 'El Señorito', Las (1973) ... Production Company Passi di danza su una lama di rasoio (1973) ... Production Company Bandoleros della dodicesima ora, I (1972) ... Production Company Ritorno di Clint il solitario, Il (1972) ... Production Company Casa de las muertas vivientes, La (1972) ... Production Company Judas... ¡toma tus monedas! (1972) ... Production Company Destino: Estambul 68 (1970) ... Production Company Hombre del puño de oro, El (1970) ... Production Company Belles au bois dormantes, Les (1970) ... Production Company ¿Quién soy yo? (1970) ... Production Company Misterio de la vida, El (1970) ... Production Company Españolear (1969) ... Production Company Turistas y bribones (1969) ... Production Company The Castle of Fu Manchu (1969) ... Production Company Due volte Giuda (1969) ... Production Company Legge della violenza - Tutti o nessuno (1969) ... Production Company Señorito y las seductoras, El (1969) ... Production Company Sonora (1969) ... Production Company Crónica de un atraco (1968) ... Production Company Sicario 77, vivo o morto (1968) ... Production Company Goldface, il fantastico superman (1968) ... Production Company Palabras de amor (1968) ... Production Company Rouble à deux faces, Le (1968) ... Production Company Gentleman Jo... uccidi (1967) ... Production Company Con la muerte a la espalda (1967) ... Production Company Coplan ouvre le feu à Mexico (1967) ... Production Company Clint el solitario (1967) ... Production Company Professionisti per un massacro (1967) ... Production Company Spia, spione (1967) ... Production Company Superargo contro Diabolikus (1966) ... Production Company Grande colpo di Surcouf, Il (1966) ... Production Company The Texican (1966) ... Production Company Uomo dalla pistola d'oro, L' (1966) ... Production Company Cinque della vendetta, I (1966) ... Production Company Asso di picche operazione controspionaggio (1966) ... Production Company Yankee (1966) ... Production Company Surcouf, l'eroe dei sette mari (1966) ... Production Company Kiss Kiss... Bang Bang (1966) ... Production Company Operazione Goldman (1966) ... Production Company Baraka sur X 13 (1966) ... Production Company Cuatro dólares de venganza (1966) ... Production Company Dinamite Jim (1966) ... Production Company Ráfaga de plomo, Una (1966) ... Production Company Sette magnifiche pistole (1966) ... Production Company Thompson 1880 (1966) ... Production Company Im Reiche des silbernen Löwen (1965) ... Production Company Ritorno di Ringo, Il (1965) ... Production Company Centomila dollari per Ringo (1965) ... Production Company Dama de Beirut, La (1965) ... Production Company Agente Z 55 missione disperata (1965) ... Production Company Train d'enfer (1965) ... Production Company Tigre se parfume à la dynamite, Le (1965) ... Production Company Uomo che viene da Canyon City, L' (1965) ... Production Company Tierra de fuego (1965) ... Production Company Durchs wilde Kurdistan (1965) ... Production Company Due sergenti del generale Custer, I (1965) ... Production Company Pistoleros de Arizona, Los (1965) ... Production Company Agente 3S3: Passaporto per l'inferno (1965) ... Production Company Pistola per Ringo, Una (1965) ... Production Company Letzte Mohikaner, Der (1965) ... Production Company Oklahoma John (1965) ... Production Company Perché uccidi ancora (1965) ... Production Company Trionfo dei dieci gladiatori, Il (1964) ... Production Company Piso de soltero (1964) ... Production Company Invincibili dieci gladiatori, Gli (1964) ... Production Company Totò d'Arabia (1964) ... Production Company Revoltosa, La (1963) ... Production Company A tiro limpio (1963) ... Production Company Constance aux enfers (1963) ... Production Company Al otro lado de la ciudad (1962) ... Production Company Bella Lola, La (1962) ... Production Company Castigadores, Los (1962) ... Production Company Solteros de verano (1962) ... Production Company Cena de matrimonios (1962) ... Production Company Centauros 1962 (1962) ... Production Company Ibiza (1962) ... Production Company Rejón, El (1962) ... Production Company Tierra de fuego (1962) ... Production Company Toro, vida y muerte, El (1962) ... Production Company Velázquez (1961) ... Production Company Altair (1960) ... Production Company Encrucijada, La (1960) ... Production Company ¿Dónde vas triste de ti? (1960) ... Production Company Hay alguien detrás de la puerta (1960) ... Production Company Sueños de mujer (1960) ... Production Company Charlestón (1959) ... Production Company Locuras de Bárbara, Las (1959) ... Production Company Fiesta en Pamplona (1959) ... Production Company Muralla, La (1958) ... Production Company Amore a prima vista (1958) ... Production Company Conte Max, Il (1957) ... Production Company Yo maté (1957) ... Production Company Marisa la civetta (1957) ... Production Company Herida luminosa, La (1956) ... Production Company Huida, La (1956) ... Production Company Nunca es demasiado tarde (1956) ... Production Company Contraband Spain (1955) ... Production Company Once pares de botas (1954) ... Production Company Relato policíaco (1954) ... Production Company Catalina de Inglaterra (1951) ... Production Company
Más allá de Esplugas City: Balcázar ... - Google Book Search



http://books.google.com/books?id=sRJffwBNXHkC&pg=PA49&lpg=PA49&dq=Cinematogr%C3%A1ficos+Balc%C3%A1zar&source=web&ots=j23yUZ2JYq&sig=5tU2WXVdEPTEhjy9yKaBSBgQzc4&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=10&ct=result#PPP1,M1

Marisa Mell-Jess Franco-Giulio Petroni Collaboration

Giulio Petroni, director of DEATH RIDES A HORSE, TEPEPA and L'OSCENO DESIDERIO...

I'm looking a for a video/DVD-R copy of Giulio Petroni's 1978 L'OSCENO DESIDERIO/POSEIDA, which is an "EXORCIST rip-off" [according to OBSESSION: THE FILMS OF JESS FRANCO] featuring the late Marisa Mell (DIABOLIK), Chris Avram (BAY OF BLOOD), Victor Israel (THE WITCHES MOUNTAIN), Lou Castel (A BULLET FOR THE GENERAL) and Jack Taylor (FEMALE VAMPIRE). I'm mainly interested in it because the music score was composed by Jess Franco. I'm wondering if it's a reprise of the cues he created for some of his own films or an original composition. Also, I can't resist being curious about a film which brings together such an interesting collection of European Trash Cinema luminaries!

If anyone has seen this and can report on the score or the film itself please post your comments below or contact me at monell579@hotmail.com. I would be willing to offer something in trade on video or DVD from my extensive collection.

Jess Franco Quiz: Who is the actress...

Lina Romay is chatting with in this scene? The fact that our mystery blonde is facing away from the camera makes it all the more challenging for Jess Franco scholars. Extra points if you can identify the film from which this screen grab is taken.

ESCLAVAS DEL CRIMEN (1986): Review

The daughter of Fu Manchu (Lina Romay) places one of her slaves into a deep trance state.


1986-PAL (approx. 87m) Spanish Video

DIRECTED BY "JAMES LEE JOHNSON" (JESUS FRANCO) WITH: MARCO MORIARTY, LINA ROMAY, MEL RODRIGO, MAITE SAURY, JOSE LAMAS, MARIA GUNHILL, ERIK RAYMOND, YOLAND MOBITA.





This is an updating of my 1999 review:

I sometimes think that Jess Franco is first and foremost a conductor of light and color. His use of filters which diffuse colors, natural and ambient light into intoxicating, exotic patterns along with the comic-book style visual treatment of the environment are what really stand out in ESCLAVAS DEL CRIMEN. Style isn't just a way to dress a film, it's EVERYTHING in the world of Jess Franco.

This 1986 obscurity is a deliriously filmed erotic adventure that supposedly updates Sax Rohmer's Fu Manchu tales (Rohmer receives onscreen story credit, although I doubt if it's based on an actual story/novel. ). Lina Romay appears as the daughter of Fu Manchu, made up with heavy eye mascara (to appear Oriental) and an outlandish hair style.

A title card places the tall tale "in an exotic corner of the distant east, [a] paradise of the drug and the corruption." Members of the famous Rocky Walters rock & roll group are abducted by the seductive slaves of the female spawn of Dr. Fu Manchu (who is not seen but is heard on the soundtrack conversing with his daughter from beyond the pale) and transported to a hotel in the jungle, which doubles as an armed camp. There they are drugged, tortured and forced to sign over bank accounts and other financial holdings before being murdered and left in situations which make the deaths look accidental.

This criminal enterprise is investigated by a spaced out rocker (Mel Rodrigo) who is trying to find his band companions. A karate fighting investigator and an Interpol agent are also on the case. After the rocker is also abducted and drugged the karate and Interpol guys move in. It all climaxes with an air strike delivered by a vertical lift-off jump-jet (via stock footage), dropping a napalm payload into the encampment. The inferno is represented with what looks like [more stock footage] burning tires in some garbage dump and the camera being shaken to simulate the experience of big explosions!

This amusing if sometimes slow-paced trifle is most notable for its arresting lens-flare/filter effects, which bathe scenes with intense luminescence, candy colored effulgence which teases (and delights) the eye, once again demonstrating that the director is always more interested in visual atmosphere than plot or action. The Far Eastern locations are represented by various the facades of local Chinese restaurants, stock footage of bustling street scenes in some Asian city, interiors decorated in B-movie Oriental style and the exterior of the Hotel Tropicana along the sun-drenched Spanish coastline. Franco will sometimes frame his scenes through the leaves of palm trees and other tropical flora to establish that this is supposed to happening in the heart of the jungle. There are a number of shots framed through the legs of the statuesque guards [who stand at their posts just about nude clutching rubber looking automatic weapons].

The female bunch are a well coiffured, scantily clad army of Amazons that recall Shirley Eaton and her followers in LA CIUDAD SIN HOMBRES/THE GIRL FROM RIO/FUTURE WOMEN (1968). There's also a back-story to Lina's character which suggests that she was once an abused innocent, but that's obscured by my lack of understanding of the Spanish dialogue in these scenes. This time around the costumes are less elaborate than the brightly colored leather and plastic confections seen in Franco's 1968 Feminia, probably due to the fact that this is a Hermino Garcia Calvo production rather than a Harry Alan Towers (with Hollywood back-up) production. The Pablo Villa [Daniel J. White]cues are familiar from other Franco 1980s adventures and previous Fu Manchu titles.

One will have to decide if Lina Romay's arch-villain is as compelling as Shirley Eaton's Sumuru or Tsai Chin's Lin Tang. It's all worth it in the end, though, for
that final close-up of Lina Romay repeating the old Fu Manchu standard: "The world will hear from me again!"

Franco would return to the Fu Manchu aesthetic, if not character, in the visually outrageous DR. WONG'S VIRTUAL HELL, financed by One Shot Productions.

This review is based on a 1.33:1 presentation on Spanish video. Obviously the original widescreen compositions are unfortunately cropped.

(c) Robert Monell 1999-2008

Jess Franco Quiz

Can anyone identify the Jess Franco film in which this image appears? I'll be adding a review of the film in question soon.