Mario and Lucio Fulci
Here is a great documentary about the great Mario Bava. Parts are in Italian with no subtitles but a lot of it is in English(with Italian subtitles) but I really enjoyed it! Plus they used super cool Italian film music from classic scores of the 60’s and 70’s.It’s wonderful, check it out below.
Here is a real blast from the past, some enterprising soul has uploaded a broadcast of Chiller Theater from the 70’s, I grew up watching this show on WPIX Channel 11 in NYC. This is complete with commercials ! Talk about Time Tripping, And the movie is none other than The Crawling Eye! Starring that fugitive from F Troop, Forrest Tucker, The animated title sequence, featuring long arrows entering the frame brought to mind rumors of Forrest’s physical attributes. Anyway in honor of BLOBFEST, check out The Crawling Eye (originally titled The Trollenberg Terror).
 
Here via Youtube you can watch a movie that scared me to bits as a young impressionable child, Mario Bava’s CALTIKI Il MOSTRO IMMORTALE. Bava took this project over from Riccardo Freda and did an excellent job. There is plenty of his ingenious in camera effect work to check out. And the use of a cows stomach as monster influenced many filmmakers, like David Lynch in ERASERHEAD. Check it out.
I watched this film last night and what can I say, I stayed awake till it was done and I didn’t turn it off, two big criteria in my home theater viewing habits, I enjoyed this film for several reasons. It’s a good story with excellent acting, nicely shot, most of it takes place in the Eternal City Roma, we get to see Italy only 15 years after WWII so it’s still pretty close to how it was. Most of the dialog is in Italian (even though the main titles are in French) so I can practice my comprehension. It’s a polyglot film, with people speaking Italian, English, Russian, Latin. A wartime film featuring occupying Nazis and escaped prisoners of war. A Russian, an Englishman, and an American to be precise. I like how the characters represent their respective cultures, sort of like the characters in The Third Man. The story kind of meanders along but in a very enjoyable way then suddenly veers into violence and death. I usually don’t like such an abrupt change of tone but Rossellini pulls it off, probably because he lived through that time of trauma and he brings that reality to it. This movie is a good example of what elevates a great director from just a journeyman, everything is well done in the film, the story is interesting, the acting good but there is some indescribable something that makes the film more enjoyable to watch than it should be, a “Lubitsch touch” as it were. It’s not the editing, the music, the setting,it’s everything, it’s the reflected talents of a man of taste and genius, Roberto Rossellini.
I have not seen enough of his films and this one inspires me to see more, how about a Major Retrospective of his work! Maybe they can get one of his other masterpieces, his daughter Isabella to emcee it. And this film is available on Netflix streaming.
Crazy title, huh. maybe it’s an homage to Charles Laughton’s masterpiece Night Of The Hunter, I would think so. Anyway this film is worth checking out, so full of the cinepoetics that only Jean Rollin could create. A lot of nudity, a lot of violence, and an underlying Romanticism in the face of Ultra Nihilism. Made for very little money, shot in a few locations, but full of ideas, images, imagination. The opening is a bit like Aldrich’s Kiss Me Deadly and the end is like nothing else. It’s sort of a modern Zombie movie sans brain eating. There is a sequence towards the end that is referencing the Holocaust, set in a train yard, a great location. Two guard/executioners consider a girl sent to them for extermination. ” This one’s still alive. I can’t do it.” “She’s as good as dead.” ” Let’s watch her and see what she does. “I am reminded in a way of the Japanese Pink Violence films. The producers said to the filmmakers, ” You can do anything as long as the film has so much nudity and violence. ” Rollin did the same, his nod to commercialism was the nudity and violence his films are full of. But I think he loved those elements as well. He truly dug his genre and he imbuded his creations with a wonderful, personal poetry. Jean Rollin it’s a shame you’re dead, I would write you a fan letter. It is amazing that you got to make these atmospheric films for so many years, a triumph of the human spirit. Bravo! And it’s on Netflix Streaming!
No, not the movie about ballet dancers, this one is from 1952 and is all about crime, corruption and the law. It’s funny how things intersect on the Great Plains of Life, I have been thinking a lot about George Tomasini, the film editor. This guy was one of the all time greats, look at his IMDB page almost every film he did is a classic!
The Great Cutter! George Tomasini!
He worked in many genres and they all came out great, his fantasy work with George Pal, The Time Machine, The Seven Faces Of Dr. Lao, Houdini. All great. I was watching Cape Fear with Robert Mitchum and Gregory Peck, end credits roll, edited by George Tomasini. Plus he edited a major share of Hitchcock’s Hollywood output. Everything from Rear Window to The Birds, including Psycho with it’s famous shower scene. Anyway I will one day soon write a piece just about George. So when I checked out Mr. Tomasini’s IMDB page I saw a film listed I had not seen, The Turning Point. I thought, ” I’ll have to check that out one of these days.” Then I was cruising around the internet and ran into a blog about Bunker Hill, On Bunker Hill, this site features great images of the old neighborhood that stood just north of downtown before it was demolished. A real dreamscape used as backgrounds by many film noir masters. I then found a link to Angel’s Flight Goes To The Movies, and there was A Turning Point! Then to top it off it’s on Netflix streaming! So I checked it out. Directed by super talented William Dieterle, the man behind such classics as The Devil and Daniel Webster, and Portrait of Jennie, this is a really well written story, excellently paced by Tomasini, it has some incredible scenes, including one of the best assassinations ever filmed. A crooked cop trying to do right is set up for a hit, and the shooter is then shot by two truck driving killers(one of whom is the Professor from Gilligan’s Island). There’s a lot of great location photography all over Bunker Hill.
And a climactic scene at what I think is the old Olympic auditorium, a boxing match featuring an appearance by the second most decorated veteran of WWII, Neville Brand.
This was two years after D.O.A. where Brand tortured Edmond O’Brien, Edmond is sort of the star of The Turning Point but really it’s William Holden. Check this gem out, great writing, directing and editing and all on Netflix streaming!
Maestro Of Psychic Cinema! William Dieterle
This is a film I’ve heard about for many years and now finally it can be seen, thanks to Netflix streaming. Written by the great Terrence Malick a couple years before he directed his masterpiece Badlands, Deadhead Miles is a paean to the open road, a picaresque tale of two and eventually one traveler. That one traveler is played by Alan Arkin, a terrific performance and one of the weirdest Southern accents ever. Arkin is the driver of the big rig of destiny. Beautiful cinematography, 35mm, rich color,awe inspiring landscapes, 1971 locations make this movie a kind of low ball visual feast. And a cool country music score, by Tom T. Hall. A great supporting cast, including some real gems.
But the reason I knew about this movie is that a friend of mine worked on it. Bud Smith, great editor of such films as The Exorcist, Putney Swope, Cat People, Zoot Suit, Sorcerer, Personal Best and many other films, told me about his time on Deadhead Miles. Bud was hired to edit the film, he stayed in Los Angeles while the crew shot on location and sent the film back. Bud cut the film as it came in. At the end of the shoot the director took a few weeks off to recuperate from the rigors of a road movie. When he came into the editing room Bud was ready with his first cut of the movie. They screened it. The director said,” Can you take that all apart and put it back in dailies?” Bud said, ” You mean there’s nothing in there that you like?” ” Yes, that’s exactly what I mean.” “Well, I guess you got the wrong guy to work on your film.” And with that Bud left. Tony Bill , the producer, wisely duped Bud’s cut before having it disassembled and after a little while Mr. Bill fired the director. The new editor used Bud’s original cut for a lot of the film which then languished in obscurity until now. So check it out, a unique film.
Mike Kaplan, flanked by Two Giants Of Film, Abraham Polonsky on the left, Mike Hodges on the right
Mike Kaplan , a very cool film executive, filmmaker and all around maven reminisces about his days working with Stanley Kubrick : HERE
I am fortunate in having met Mr. Kaplan a few years ago through a mutual friend, Robert Downey Sr. Mike took Bob and me to a screening of Robert Altman’s excellent film The Player. Altman was there and was very gracious, Mike was working with him on the marketing of The Player. Mike also was instrumental in getting the wonderful Croupier released here in the US, an excellent film by the supercool Mike Hodges. It launched the career of Clive Owen. So check out Mike’s Tales of Kubrick, they’re great stories, insights into one of the 20th Century’s great Film Artists.
There was a great article in the New York Times this weekend about restoring Penn Staion Manhattan to it’s former glory. The original was razed in 1963, a horrible crime against the people of NYC, driven by greedy real estate interests.
I used to commute through that station and one evening while waiting for a train to arrive, I sat in the depressing waiting room and someone stole my hat from right next to me as I dozed off. I used to watch hookers steal slices of pizza from the little pizzeria in that same subterranean waiting area. Anyway it was an incredible work of Art, all girders and glass with a delicate filigree feel and I’m sure the people of the greater metropolitan NY area would benefit from it being restored. So I started thinking what films feature the station in it’s original state. Off the top of my head I came up with a couple. First Stanley Kubrick’s Killer’s Kiss, the film opens in Penn Station. And you can watch it in HD on Netflix streaming. Another great movie that used the location, The 10th Victim, the opening of this film is shot outside the recently demolished station, Ursula Andress runs by the rubble.
Ursula in front of another magnificent structure, an interesting contrast, in Rome they preserve the great edifices of the past, in the USA nothing is safe from the wrecking ball of Greed.
I will try to find some more examples of this magnificent structure captured in the celluloid time machine.
Opening Of Killers Kiss
The great R&B music maven has passed on. Johnny Otis was a colossal influence on American music from the 40’s till now. He discovered many great talents and influenced, inspired many others. Like James The Godfather Of Soul” Brown who got his seminal funk guitar player, Jimmy Nolan, from Johnny’s band. Frank Zappa recalled going to Johnny’s Rock n’Roll shows at El Monte’s Legion Stadium. I always thought Zappa’s signature mustache was a nod to Johnny’s facial fuzz.
Johnny with Don and Dewey, that’s Don SugarCane Harris on the left
When FZ was makingPeaches in Regalia he asked Johnny to get him Sugar Cane Harris to play on the album. Johnny did, although FZ had to pay SugarCane’s bail, and Johnny’s son Shuggie played on it as well. Zappa returned the favor by getting Johnny a contract with Kent records for his great Cold Shot album.
Johnny with his son , incipient guitar genius Shuggie
Johnny was a white kid who grew up in a black neighborhood and basically lived as a black man. Black people assumed he was black, even my mailman, an ex-jazz drummer, told me that when he was a kid The Johnnie Otis TV show was the first time he saw black musicians on TV. Johnnie had a hit with Harlem Nocturne with his big band, then Willie and The Hand Jive with his Rock/ R&B outfit, and he would have been rich if he had gotten his fair share of Hound Dog, the original version of which he produced for Big Mama Thornton, but Leiber and Stoller ripped him off on a technicality. Farewell Great Johnny O, we all here on Earth will miss you but we’re all better off for your having been here.
Here’s a crazy film I happened upon last night. Joseph Losey’s The Big Night. A Coming Of Age Noir Urban Fairy Tale. John Drew Barrymore , son of the great Barrymore and father of Drew, stars and gives a great performance. He is pretty mesmerizing to watch, a fact not only due to his great talent but also to his mental instability. When a crazy person has talent they are fascinating to watch, Brando is another crazy genius that comes to mind.
Atmospheric Imagery thanks to veteran cinematographer Hal Mohr
This is a strange noir story of a boy’s 17th birthday and the night that he becomes a man.
Barrymore witnesses his father getting a savage beating from a crippled newspaper man, it sends him out into the night, the big city, thirsting for revenge.
John Drew Barrymore aka Barrymore Jr.
He goes to all the noir city hotspots, first a prizefight, his prey is a sports writer, thus serving up another staple of the noir canon, the figure of the newspaperman and the paper itself, their role in the Big City. While at the fight Barrymoore makes the acquaintance of a drunken PHD, a Doctor of Philosophy that aids him in his quest for “Al Judge” the evil columnist that caned his prostrate father. A spectator at the fight hands a bottle of liqour to the drunken doctor and I recognized this large individual as Robert Aldritch, who had worked as an assistant director with Joseph Losey on M and The Prowler. The pair of new friends follow Al St. Judge to a bar, lose him and wind up at another noir touchstone, The Nightclub! Complete with Jazz band and black vocalist. Here Losey masterfully limns a disfunctional relationship between the doctor and his mistress in a few deft strokes that tell you so much about them.
The second Mrs. Charles Foster Kane, Opera Singer Susan Alexander
The women is non other than Dorothy Comingore, Susan Alexander of Citizen Kane. She dances with Barrymore, a harbinger of her sister’s kissing him later in the film, his sexual initiation is with two women old enough to be his mother. An artifact of Losey’s relationship with his own mother, described in a biography as a “sexual predator”. Outside the restaurant Barrymore bumps into the Jazz singer telling her “she’s the best singer in the world” and ” really beautiful even if she is a…” (nigger).
Beautiful Jazz Singer! Mauri Lynn
The look on her face triggers instant regret in Barrymore, he didn’t mean to insult her, he just revealed his own upbringing and cultural limitations. A great shot follows of his anguished face in the rear window of a taxi that pulls away and disappears into the Stygian Night Of the City. A wonderful scene between Barymore and the sister of Comingore occurs at the apartment, again a motherly /sexual love thing happens. After a nighttime visit to the graveyard shift of the newspaper, Barymore finally tracks St. Judge down and has it out with the evil cripple. St. Judge reveals some startling information about the foibles of Barrymore’s father viv a vis his recently deceased sister, so unsettling the teenager that he puts down the gun and tries to leave but the rotten reporter reveals the depth of his depravity and turns the gun on our young hero, a struggle ensues , a shot is fired, the handicapped columnist hits the deck. John Drew returns to the apartment of lonely older women where the sister comforts him but his new “friend” the doctor throws him out threatening to kill him if he gets him involved in the case. Losey’s bleak view of humanity on display. Young John winds up back at home the cops show up and he pulls agun, threatening to kill himself, OK, nowadays the cops would open fire on the poor sap but back then they waited for him to work it out with his old man, the father reveals the boy’s real mother isn’t dead, she just met a new guy and split. “Don’t you hate her?” the teen asks. “No, I love her. ” The dad replies. The end! And it’s available for streaming on Netflix!
As promised here are some interesting film noir finds on Netflix. Union Station, a kidnapping story starring William Holden and Nancy Olson. This was made immediately after Sunset Blvd. and both of these actors appear in that film as well. I guess they got along. Station is directed by Rudolph Mate’. He directed the original D.O.A. and was a cameraman on such classics as Carl Dreyers Passion Of Joan D’Arc. This film is definitely worth checking out, it’s even got Barry Fitzgerald reprising his quaint Irish detective role from Naked City. And it’s shot at the beautiful Los Angeles Union Station.
Cry Danger, you get Dick Powell, Rhonda Fleming and a host of great noir character actors, shot in some amazing 50’s L.A. locations, including a trailer park within view of City Hall! Pretty cool. Robert Parrish’s directorial debut. Shot by the always good Joe Biroc, he was Aldritch’s cameraman for a lot of films.
5 Steps to Danger OK, this is by no stretch of the imagination a great movie, maybe not even a good movie. Made fast and cheap, the things it has going for it are as follows: Sterling Hayden, Ruth Roman, driving around the desert in a 50’s Packard convertible! That is cool as hell. If you like these actors, check it out.
The Killer Is Loose, an interesting film by Budd Boetticher , Wendell Corey plays a sort of nerd serial killer, maybe the first one in Cinema. Joseph Cotten is the cop that put him away, killing Corey’s wife in the process so now “Foggy” wants revenge. A weird flick but worth checking out.
Plunder Road, Hubert Cornfield’s excellent gold heist movie.
More to come. Same Bat time, same Bat channel.