Movie review - "Royal Hunt of the Sun" (1969) **

 Chat, chat, chat. Peter Schaffer's stage play about Spaniards and Incas as a hit - a literate look at colonialism with some impressive staging. I can see the thought process - "well take this and add scenery and it'll be a literate blockbuster".

Maybe. Some people will like it. but it's a lot of talk. Christopher Plummer is the Inca king in make up. Robert Shaw has grey in his hair. 

Some effective moments - a battle sequence in slo mo with flameno, the death of Plummer.

Too much chat especially about God. There's a third act lecture from a priest, in common with many Phil Yordan scripts. 

Movie review - "The Exquisite Cadaver" (1969) *** (warning: spoilers)

 Thriller about a publisher who receives body parts in the mail.  I'm not that familiar with director Vincenet Amada but he does a stylish job. It's slow moving, more atmosphere in a Val Lewton way.

Film has resonance for Capucine. About a girl who commits suicide (Judy Matheson) as Capucine did, and Capucine is queer, as she apparently was (well, bi) IRL. 

I liked this. A whole work. Makes sense. Attractive women. Done with style. 

Movie review - "King of Kings" (1961) ****

 For some reason this film is called a flop when it did very nicely particularly internationally - maybe MGM were expecting Ben Hur Mark Two which it wasn't but it made a strong profit.

Handsomely made. Smart. Hunter does well in a difficult role. The support cast steal the show but they always do in Jesus movies.

Movie review - "Flesh and Blood" (1985) **1/2

 The original idea was meant to be about two old comrades, Rutger Hauer and Jack Thompson, clashing. Orion pushed for more of a lovestory. Because it's Paul Verhoeven that means rape. 

Hauer is ideally cast although he and Verhoeven clashed on the film. Jennifer Jason Leigh has a perm, a sexual curiosity, gets gang raped, then is into Hauer.

The other casting is a real grab bag. Hauer's team include Bruno Kirby (!), Susan Tyrell (terrific), Brion James. Tom Burlinson is fresh faced as the prince betrothed to Leigh. Jack Thompson is a mercenary. 

The baddies are diverse - include several women, a kid, a gay couple.

Solid story. But no emotional links between characters. We forget Thompson and Hauer fought together. Burlinson is a stranger basically to Leigh and Hauer. Leigh and Hauer knew her.

Better if Leigh was Thompson's daughter and knew Hauer/Burlinson a long time.

Leigh goes naked a lot.  To a point where it's like "is this really necessary for the script?"

Movie review - "The Castilian" (1963) **

 Sidney Pink is best known for his sci fi efforts but this is a medieveal (well, tenth century) epic about a Spanish hero - a kind of El Cid knock off. There's plenty of production value. I didn't recognise the Latin actors but there's cameos from Alida Valli and Broderick Crawford, Cesar Romero is the hero's BFF and Frankie Avalon is a strolling troubador.

Movie review - "A Town Called Bastard" (1971) **

 Once Sam Bronston went bust Phil Yordan found new blood out of the Scotia Group who invested in a bunch of films. A spaghetti Western shot in Spain it starts out with a confronting massacre led by Robert Shaw and Martin Landau then jumps forward in time to where Shaw is a priest (who sleeps with women) in the town run by a gun toting Telly Savalas. Stella Stevens turns up looking for revenge which is intriguing but the film wanders after that. We flashback to Shaw's life, and then Savalas is shot and the film loses momentum,  and Michael Craig pops up as a convincing bandito and it gets confusing when it should be a simple revenge tale.

Nice cinematography and some decent action and excellent cast.

Movie review - "The Return of the Musketeers" (1989) ***

 I remember the general lack of excitement when this came out - the 1973 and 1974 films were hits but it wasn't as though they were hugely iconic, I mean there were lots of other versions of the tale that kept playing on TV. 

Still, I didn't mind it - and I don't mind it now. It's a shaggy dog sort of movie, ambling along with its various subplots the way that, well, the 1973-74 versions did. It does lack the big emotional undercurrent of the original Musketeers - there's no Milady killing D'artagnan's Constance, and then being captured and executed, with Athos being Milady's ex. 

It has some good ideas - having the villain be Milady's daughter Justine, adding a new spunkrat (C Thomas Howell) to be Athos' son, and introducing Cyrano de Bergerac, Louis XIV, Charles I, and Oliver Cromwell.

It's the serious moments here that works best - the killing of Milady's executioner, the death of Charles I, Richard Chamberlain and Oliver Reed getting heavy with Philippe Noiret. It's a shame there wasn't something else of more emotional weight to match the death of Milady or Constance - like say one of the Musketeers. Lester/George MacDonald Fraser clearly couldn't bring themselves to kill off Justine.

The band don't get back together until the end - it's York and Finlay for a bit, then York, Reed, Finlay and Howell, then Chamberlain comes in at the end. But that's dramatic.

The acting is good. I enjoyed Michael York's ageing juvenile interpretation of D'artagnan, Oliver Reed is excellent as always as the moral but boozy Athos, Chamberlain so much fun I wish we'd seen more of him. Frank Finlay gets some screen time but struggles to make an impact - it may be his character. Kim Cattral is a lot of fun as the villainess and C. Thomas Howell at least looks the part as Raoul. It's said to see Roy Kinnear knowing he'd die making this. Bill Paterson is spectacularly good as Oliver Cromwell - the best depiction of that character on screen I've seen.

This film is always a little bit in second gear but I enjoyed it.

An aside: maybe this would've done better had it been a remake of The Man in the Iron Mask. A big role for a newer star, a more road tested source material, you could still have used the original stars. Just a thought.

Movie review - "Treasure Island" (1972) **1/2

 Orson Welles started making a version of this story in the 1960s - he'd done it on radio - and I wish he had, he is an ideal Long John Silver. Here is voice is dubbed which seems absurd.

Still, he's got a twinkle in his eye and is full of rogueishness - even without the voice its an endearing performance. He has pleasing by play with Jim Hawkins, who seems very young, but that adds to the drama.

There is a solid sail boat, and occasionally this springs along very well, with some flourishes. It feels like a flawed work but I didn't mind it. It was fun to see Welles in a lead in this stage of his career.

Movie review - "Horror Express" (1972) ***1/2 (re-watching)

Put this on for fun. Spanish actors pretending to be in Russia. Lee and Cushing. A script that gleefully raids The Thing. Telly Savalas stealing the show in the last 20 minutes. Some attractive women. Dodgy effects. The romance of a train. Rasputin like figure.

Great fun. Love it.

Movie review - "The Light at the Edge of the World" (1971) **1/2 (warning: spoilers)

Splendid rocky locations and lighthouse. Yul Brynner ideal as a pirate. Kirk Douglas in some late period stardom - he also produced.

At first I wondered why this movie cost so much. But then boats become involved - Douglas clambered over them, there's boats on the rocks, etc. That wouldn't have been cheap.

Good solid concept - Douglas is at a lighthouse that's taken over by pirates led by Brynner, who turn it into a wrecking location.  The development is less assured - Douglas runs around rocks and doesn't seem to have a plan; he kills the odd pirate then goes and hide again; his actions don't stop Eagger being pack raped and his associate being killed.

Surprisingly violent - the pirates kill Douglas' co workers relatively mildly, but when they get a boat to crash they go about killing women and children, hacking away. Later on a man Douglas rescued is flayed alive (skin ripped off) before Douglas shoots him dead, Samatha Egger is pack raped by the ship's crew (which does happen off screen at least) on a ship which is blown up by Douglas so they all die.

Brynner seems more interested in Douglas than Eagger but at least it's well cast.  Not very tense. Strong idea - they should remake this.

Movie review - "Rain for a Dusty Summer" (1971) *1/2

Called a spaghetti Western but it's not really. It's a Spanish film set in the 1917 Mexican Revolution where Ernest Borgnine shouts a lot as a general who really really hates the Catholic Church. Borgnine's role is only small - he doesn't leave the one set. The star is some actor who plays a smiling guitar playing priest who escapes from the authorities. Some times the tone is light - the priest is in drag - other times it's serious - the army is always shooting innocent people and at the end the priest is killed by a firing squad.

It looks cheap and is badly dubbed. This was the last film from director Arthur Lubin. Catholics may like it. And Lubin/Borgnine completists.

Movie review - "Horror Express"(1973) (re-viewing) ***

Watched this film again just for fun - and it is a lot of fun, despite the slightly jarring fact its set in Russia but was shot in Spain.Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee have a high old time as the heroes, get that great moment where they say "But we're British" when asked if one of them is the killer. (The piece might have had more emotional impact if one of them had been infected). I forgot how Lee's part was significantly bigger than Cushing's. 

Some actors you won't recognise, a lot with moustaches. Telly Savalas steals the film in the last 20 minutes. The storyline rips off The Thing but that works really well on a train.

Movie - "Murder in the Rue Morgue" (1971) *** (warning: spoilers)

The reputation of this picture isn't high - it was one of AIP's second Poe cycle, directed like many of them were by Gordon Hessler. I actually liked it more than I thought it would - it felt a little bit cut about but not tremendously and had some good things about it.

I didn't mind that much they disregarded Poe's book - rather this is a Phantom of the Opera knock off with Herbert Lom reprising that part (he played it in the 1962 Hammer film) as an actor getting revenge on the a theatre company. The company do Grand Guignol, including an adaptation of Murders in the Rue Morgue, which I liked. It's a decent story, well thought out, and impressive production values.

Two flaws for me. First Jason Robards in a role clearly meant for Vincent Price. AIP must have thought "oh Robards is a big theatre actor he'll be great" but he's not nearly big, flamboyant or fun enough - he's too raspy, realistic. I so wish Price was in this . (He was fighting with AIP over money at the time).

There's also Christina Kauffman's performance. Her character is key - Lom's love/obsession for her drives this - but she's a flat damp squib. I guess the character is meant to be passive but she's really dully depicted.

Still, like I said, I went in with low expectations and was pleasantly surprised.

Movie review - "Custer of the West" (1968) *1/2

Terrible version of the famous general, which is big screen but looks cheap and feels like a mess. Its historical crap which would be alright if at least replaced with some decent drama but there isn't. I didn't realise Robert Shaw was then considered a big enough star for an epic, but I guess From Russia with Love was a hit...

In the opening scenes he has a maniacal glint in his eye and I thought maybe this could be interesting even though Shaw is English... playing Custer as cray cray. But his character is all over the shop - one minute decent, then drunk, then liberal, then killing people.

Indians are persecuted and the film is full of late 60s white guilt but they still have the capability to take over an entire town and de-rail and entire train off a bridge. Scenes are inserted to show off Cinerama without making sense dramatically - a soldier going down a long shute of water, train falling off a bridge, etc. A sequence involving Robert Ryan as a deserting soldier feels inserted solely to give Robert Ryan a brief showy part. Other scenes feel like "ideas" shoved in which might have worked in a more cohesive piece but which here are annoying - such as Custer seeing himself depicted on stage.

There's "conflict" between Custer and his officers, bleeding heart liberal Jeff Hunter and hard core Ty Hardin. Lawrence Tierney growls as General Sheridan, Mary Ure (Shaw's real wife) is wasted in a nothing part as Mrs Custer (she doesn't have that much on screen chemistry with her husband).

Its a haphazard mess and really annoyed me as a film.

Movie review - "Room in Rome" (2010) **

Two women spend the night together in a hotel room in Rome. They lie about their past, have sex, reveal the truth about themselves, have more sex, grow emotionally close, look up things on the internet, have some banter with a room service waiter, stare at painting, have some more sex, sit around naked a lot.

It's nicely shot - a very good room, with high ceilings. The leads are very attractive - Spanish Elena Anya, who has been in Almodavar films, and Russian (well Ukranian) Natasha Yarovenko - and the dialogue is mostly in English, albeit stiltingly performed.

I think the film aims for significance with the intercuts of paintings and dialogue and maps of old Rome. But it came across really as more a chance to show some hot lesbian sex.

Movie review - "Circus World" (1964) ** (re-viewing)

Samuel Bronston had tackled Revolutionary America, medieval Spain. the Boxer Rebellion and Ancient Rome -with this he turned his eye on turn of the century circuses. Not as inherently violent as those periods, but still plenty of spectacle and colour. John Wayne is believable as a circus owner and its nice to see him out of Westerns.

But they didn't bring a story.Wayne runs a circus, has an adoptive daughter (Claudia Cardinale) and a rival (John Smith) plus a best friend (Lloyd Nolan). He decides to take his show to Europe. Things get off to a rocky start when, in the film's best sequence, the boat capsizes and a lot of his animals and equipment are sunk. But he bounces back with relative ease, gets together a new circus and is a success. There's a fire at the end, but no members of the public are present and it's quickly resolved.

There's a subplot - or is it the main plot, I wasn't sure - about Wayne and Cardinale who run in to Rita Hayworth, Cardinale's mother; she was married to Cardinale's father, but had an affair with Wayne which resulted in the dad basically killing himself on the trapeze.

There are interesting elements raised but never developed. At the beginning a lot is made of John Wayne and John Smith being Wild West style artists, which is cool and a great reason to explain their presence in the cast... but then this feels forgotten and these two just hang around the circus at the end. Lloyd Nolan feels as though he's in the movie just for exposition. Richard Conte looks as though he's about to do something interesting, as a clown who is the brother of Cardinale's father, but he never does. (Or is he the person who wrote "suicide" on Cardinale's wall? I wasn't sure who did that.) John Smith's character threatens to become interesting, with this supposed rivalry with Wayne and romancing Cardinale - but the script never develops any conflict. (Why not make him Wayne's biological son? Why not ramp up the conflict?)

The romance between Cardinale and Smith is rushed through and feels a bit yuck because although Cardinale is stunning as always (especially in those trapeze outfits), she plays it so naive and child like.

John Wayne is fun. Richard Conte and Nolan are professional. John Smith is weak; his role was to have been played by Rod Taylor, and it's a shame it wasn't - Taylor is simply a better, more charismatic actor and the part could've used it. Rita Hayworth was excellent in her part; she looks tragic and is a believable trapeze artist. Many good elements, but it doesn't mesh, and the film's failure at the box office is hardly surprising.

Movie review - "The House of 1,000 Dolls" (1967) *

Mark McGee in his history of AIP films says this was the sleaziest movie ever made by that company which got my hopes up - as did the brilliant story in that book about the topic matter being so racy they told the Spanish authorities they were making a film about Abraham Lincoln and had an actor dressed as Lincoln on set all the time just in case. However it's just dull - at least, in this version (star Vincent Price alluded to a porno version being shot on the days he wasn't on set).

The story isn't bad - a magician (Price) and his accomplice (Martha Hyer) kidnap women for the "white slavery racket"; the partner of one such woman goes looking for them.

There are some bright moments - the opening sequence, some whipping and cat fights among the girls, attractive women - but not enough of them. Price is professional but is part too small; George Nader is okay as the investigating hero, though bland; Martha Hyer is a non-entity. There are too many scenes where nothing happens and it lacks suspense or even just plain good old fashioned exploitiveness.

Movie review - "Captain Apache" (1971) **

Spaghetti Western starring Lee Van Cleef (who also sings songs on the soundtrack!) as a native American cavalry officer  investigating a murder... and eventually uncovers a plot to assassinate President Grant. You don't find that out until towards the end of the movie but I'm telling you up front because it'll make this easier to follow - it's a bit over the shop, the sort of early 70s crazy movie that Quentin Tarantino likes.

There's a lot of non-traditional Western features to this movie - the finale mostly takes place on a train, there's a long hallucination sequence, odd camera angles. Stuart Whitman (mysterious businessman) and Carroll Baker (shady lady who has a series of lovers and winds up with Van Cleef) give the support cast genuine class. Philip Yordan was one of the screenwriters.

Movie review - "Knife of Ice" (1972) **

Another teaming of Carroll Baker and director Umbert Lezni, who had previously made Orgasmo and Paranoia  together. She plays a mute traumatised by the death of her parents years ago who encounters a killer. (Shades of The Spiral Staircase).

This is less exploitative than previous Baker vehicles - no nudity, less violence, more suspense. Not as trashy - or, to be blunt, as interesting. There is some camp, notably the presence of a devil worshipper who looks very Charles Manson.

Baker is excellent; I have no idea what she thought of all these giallos she made around this time, but they gave her a chance to really act: she's completely convincing, conveying emotion mostly via her face and eyes (ironic since Baker was so renowned for her voice).

The rest of the film isn't up to her standard; no other character we can really engage with, too many bad actors and red herrings. The script lacks decent twists and/or memorable moments . It is worth checking out for Carroll Baker fans, though.

Movie review - "The Crack in the World" (1965) **

After the Samuel Bronston empire collapsed, Phil Yordan stayed on in Spain to crank out the blockbusters. This is a disaster movie with the novelty being that humans are responsible for the disaster - they set of a nuclear bomb in the earth's crust to tap into the world's geothermal energy setting off a chain reaction. Serves them right.

Lots of scientific mumbo jumbo and some very impressive special effects - not nearly enough of them, or enough action, too much time sitting around talking and devoted to a boring love triangle between Dana Andrews who is distant from his wife, but luckily for her there's her bulky ex, Keiron Moore, standing in the wings.

Best performance comes from Andrews, who suited disaster films with his silver haired, craggy faced authority. But it's hard to care too much when it's the human's fault. (NB Because it happens in Africa, most of the people who die are Africans, who almost all perish off screen and are barely mentioned as an after thought.)