Movie review - "One on Top of the Other" (1969) **

 Hitchcockian thriller from Lucio Fulci with lots of nudity - sleazy doctor Jean Sorel is married to Marissa Mell but having an affair with Elsa Martinelli. Mell dies but then a lookallike stripper turns up and cop John Ireland leads an investigation.

The story isn't bad though it feels padded - fifteen minutes could be sliced off (especially the whole "appeal for 24 hours" sequence after we know who dunnit. Sorel is handsome, Mell is gorgeous and seen from many different angles, Martinelli pretty, there are strippers. Faith Domergue pops up as Mell's sister and there's some scenes shot in  San Francisco.

Book review - "Chasing the Panther: Adventures and Misadventures of a Cinematic Life" by Carolyn Pfeiffer

 I read this because I was keen to read about Pfeiffer's adventures as a producer in the 80s with Alan Rudolph, Chris Blackwell, Shep Gordon etc but there is very little of that. This memoir is mostly about her time in Europe in the 60s - as a student, then working in Italy as Claudie Cardinale's assistant, meeting people like Burt Lancaster, Visconti, Delon and Fellini, then working for Delon (being raped by one of Delon's dodgy bodyguards), then Omar Sharif as an assistant (shagging Robert Bolt), being friends with Nathalie Delon and Geraldine Chaplin, becoming a publicisit then eventually working for Shep Gordon, hanging with Robert Altman, dope with Blake Edwards. 

It's pretty interesting stuff - having Sean Connery put his hand on her leg while Diane Cilento was there, a fling with photographer Terence Donovan etc. There is heart break - a daughter (son of an affair with a married man) dies as a child, she finds true love with a journalist who dies of a heart attack. I wish there had been more on her work as producer. But I enjoyed the book.

 

Movie review - "Kiss the Girls and Make Them Die" (1966) **1/2

 Silly Eurospy spoof from Dino de Laurentiis which gives you everything you need from a Bond spoof - mad villain (Raf Vallone) with outlandish plan, hero agent (Mike Connors), female lead (Dorothy Prvine), exotic locations (Brazil).

Connors is a little dull as a hero but he's offset by Provine and Terry Thomas in an outrageous rip off of Lady Penelope and Parker from Thunderbirds - they're a lot of fun.

Critical reception was hostile, in part I think because so many films like this were then being made. But the time of this genre has passed so we can appreciate that Provine never got another role this fun, and Connors didn't get another chance to run around Brazil, nor did Terry Thomas to play a skilled secret agent. 

Movie review - "The Adventures of Gerard" (1970) *

 Terrible movie. Arthur Conan Doyle's short stories are apparently quite fun and George MacDonald Fraser was a huge fan - it sounds as though they influenced Flashman. But this movie is stupid. I never got a sense of Gerard, Peter McEnerey was just... whatever in a moustache. Claudia Cardinale is beautiful and can have chemistry with anyone but she's not in it much.

Jack Hawkins is in it, ditto John Neville and Eli Wallach as Napoleon. I couldn't follow what was going on, I didn't care. This just annoyed me. 

Movie review - "A Girl in Australia" (1971) ***

 Sweet riff on They Knew What They Wanted. Benefits from Alberto Sordi and Claudia Cardinale bringing full star power and Australian locations.

Movie review - "Venus in Furs" (1969) **1/2

 Not a lot of story but plenty of style and sexiness. James Darren is obsessed with dead Maria Rohm. He also has an affair with Barbara McNair (black singer) and Klaus Kinski is in there. Enjoyed this.

Movie review - "The Golden Arrow" (1962) **

 The axing of his TV show saw Tab Hunter make his inevitable way to Italy, like so many faded stars of his era. He never got his groove back but he stayed in leads for the next decade.

This has great production values and gorgeous colour. The story is in fits and starts, never quite gets its tone - part fantasy, part Robin Hood. There's some comic genies, one would've done. Rosanna Podessta is pretty as the girl the rest of the cast is indistinguished.

It looks fantastic. Hunter is alright but not quite comfortable in this world. It's weird - Tony Curtis and Rock Hudson suited it more. In his defence he's dubbed. But also he was looking like an ageing juvenile now.

Movie review - "Tentacles" (1977) **

 Amiable Jaws knock off has some stylish direction, phtotography and music as well as an enjoyable collection of Hollywood hams: Henry Fonda as a shonky businessman, John Huston as a newspaper editor, Shelley Winters as a mum.  None of these roles are big - the big part is Bo Hopkins as a killer whale trainer whose wife and sister in law are killed so he sets out to get the killer octopus with said whales.

Octopuses aren't that scary on flim but there's decent sequences.

Movie review - "Waterloo" (1970) ***

 Expensive, full of detail for the military nerd. The spectacle impresses. I actually felt this might've been better in a longer version - you would've gotten to know the characters more. Mistake I think to start with Napoleon abdicating - better to start with him coming from Elba. 

Rod Steiger hams it up as Napoleon. Hell, why not. Chris Plummer has dry fun as Wellington. They look at each other through glasses. We hear their thoughts - I've never liked that method.

Best bit apart from the spectacular stuff: death of Michael Wilding. That of Jack Hawkins would mean more if we'd gotten to know him. Dan O'Herily yells entertainingly as Ney. Ian Ogilvy gets quite a number of close ups.

Movie review - "Amazons of Rome" (1961) **

Account of Cloelia, who fought the Estrucans - I'm not super familiar with it though I have heard of Horatio at the bridge and he's in this too. But mainly its Cloelia being captured by Etruscans who are fighting Rome, falling for a Barbarian general, escaping with women, returning to fight.

The leads of this are remarkably odd for a peplum - Louis Jourdan as an Etruscan allied barbarian bent on invading Rome, Sylvia Syms as Cloelia. Jourdan looks especially odd. He's always snacking on an apple which is an actor's choice but grates.

Syms has a plucky boyishness which actually sells the character - a little more realistic than the usual statuesque maiden. And while she moons over Jourdan she gets to do more action than him. It's a better role than most of her "girl" parts in British films.

Movie review - "Black Sunday" (1960) aka The Mask of Satan **1/2 (re-watching)

 Few horror films have more of a full on opening - Barbara Steele convicted of being a witch by her brother, a mask of spikes is put on her face, and someone rams it into her. Welcome to Italian horror!

This has two British leads, both starlets from Rank - Barbara Steele and John Richardson.

Beautifully shot in black and white - most Bava movies look stunning. Atmospheric castles and crypts. The dubbing was hard to get used to - not very good.

Steele is compelling. The film didn't come alive for me though. I wish it did. I want to like it, it looks so marvellous. Too slow. Decent story. Maybe it lacks a monster who comes alive, a decent relationship. Maybe that's it.

Movie review - "Pirate of the Half Moon" (1957) **

 Swasbuckler with imported American star a few years before this became super, super common. John Derek was the second tier name.

He's a pirate who pretends to be a minstrel, winds up at a acastle.I got confused. He takes over the castle. There's a final fight on the beach which was decent. That's about it. Some romance.

Movie review - "Planet of the Vampires" (1965) ***1/2 (re-watching)

 Fun. Gorgeous. Doesn't sustain tension oddly. Solid script. Luciana Palluzi is in a lot of fun movies. Barry Sullivan is fine.

Movie review - "Marie of the Isles" (1959) **

A biopic of someone called Marie Bonnard du Parquet, a wife of the governor of Martinique who I assume is more famous in France. She's played by Belinda Lee, who often played real life figures in her European movies, often notorious sex pots.

Here Marie is a serving maid who meets a handsome lout (Alain Saury) but can't marry him because she's trailer trash and he's off to run Martinique. She marries a rich baddy who doesn't consumate marriage while Suary gets involved with a chubby pirate.

I was looking forward to this as I like a pirate film but there's not enough Lee or swashbuckling. It's mostly the chubby pirate and other character actors and the budget isn't that big. It perks up towards the end. I was a little disappointed. Maybe it was more due to my expectations.

It was directed by Georges Combret.

Movie review - "Blood Feud" (1961) (aka Il Sicario) **1/2

Italian film directed by  Damiano Damiani (who later did Amityville 2) which I only watched because Belinda Lee has a support role. It's about an industrialist (Sergio Fantoni) who owes a lot of money who decides to hire Alberto Lupo to kill his creditor. Belinda Lee is his wife - quite dowdy in comparison to her normal European roles. When Lupo slaps her around she goes silent, takes her coat and the kids and leaves. Later they get back together.

Lee gets a few other chances to act here - a break down, yelling at her husband. So too Sylva Koscina who plays Fantoni's girl.

Cesare Zavattini was one of the writers.  This doesn't play out the way I thought it would. I figured Lupo would kill relatively early then there would be twists and turns. But actually it's mostly Lupo angsting.

Nice to see Lee in a film which actually tries to be good. Doesn't quite get there, but it's interesting.

Movie review - "Terminal Station" (1954) ***

 Montgomery Clift really worked with the cream of the crop - Hawks, Zinnemann, Hitchcock, Kazan, Stevens and here Vittorio de Sica. This is the tale of a romance between Jennifer Jones and Clift in Rome.

The film doesn't have a good reputation - no one who liked it seemed happy with it - but I liked it. It's very simple, a one act play... not really enough material for a feature: it's about the end of a relationship rather than the whole relationship. It feels more suited to say an hour long TV play and even then could be pushing it. It needs a subplot, to meet Jones' sister at least (mother of the Richard Beymer character); maybe the husband; maybe a friend of Clift's; a stronger subplot (there is one about a pregnant woman but that's not really in depth).

But it's done with a lovely seemingly-effortless style, with skilful photography among the rail station. I'm not a big Jennifer Jones fan but she's fine; with Elizabeth Taylor I think this could've been a minor classic. Clift is excellent in his handsome, intense leading man phase. You look at this Clift and go "he would've make Wild River really sing". He really disintegrated in a few years. He's not that Italian but it hardly matters.

Strong atmosphere. Fun to see young Richard Beymer. Confidently handled. Like I say not really enough story for a feature but entertaining.

Oh I wasn't wild about the domestic violence aspect - Clift smacks Jones across the face. Apparently this is alright because his character is Italian or something.

Movie review - "Tiger of the Seven Seas" (1962) **

 A surprisingly feminist pirate movie, at least by the standards of English speaking cinema - the hero is a woman, Gianna Maria Canale, who takes over her dad's pirate operation: she is an excellent fighter and even beats her own boyfriend (Anthony Steel) in a duel. And her antagonist is another woman, a smart rich one, Maria Grazia Spina.

Steel looks old and tired here - the drinking was kicking in. He's still in shape and has all his hair, he just looks old. He seems emasculated. Not that interested. Steel played a number of emasculated characters, eg the infertile sook in A Question of Adulteryy.

John Kitzmiller, a black American (he was in Dr No) is Canale's mute sidekick, Turpentine, if I'm not mistaken. At least POC have presence (even if he dies saving his mistress).

There's decent production value but it's poorly directed and choreographed. There's no life to it - despite the story. It's one of those set ups that should have worked - imagine Maureen O'Hara or Yvonne de Carlo in it. But it's sluggish. The bad dubbing doesn't help. Steel had a deep speaking voice better than his dubber.

Movie review - "I Magliari" (1959) **1/2

 I watched this because Belinda Lee was in it but her part is relatively small (she doesn't come in until the film is half over). It's about Italian workers in Germany, and much of their behaviour is boorish and not that interesting. But after a while this grew on me - I got into the rhythms of the story.

Belinda Lee is good as another man eater though she has this drag queen make up on that she seemed to use whenever she worked in Germany. But in her quiet moments she's effective. She's the wife of the boss of one of the workers who has an affair with said worker (played by Renalto Salvatori, who you might recognise. Alberto Sordi has another lead.)

There's decent developments - lots of local prejudice - and fascinating cultural details: the coffee shops, the dancing, the Teddy Boys, the rock and roll. Location filming helps.

Movie review - "Commando" (1962) *** (warning: spoilers)

 Stewart Granger fled to Europe in the sixties, a decision that ultimately put the wind out of hs career, but this is a surprisingly enjoyable action movie. It's a guys on a mission tale, the mission being to capture a rebel leader in 1961 Algeria - the heros are French Foreign Legion.

This was a surprise for me. It's a tight action movie - I saw a crappy print but there's plenty of action, it's filmed on some sort of location, they attempt to have a cross section of soldiers (Dorian Gray as a hooker, there's a soldier who slept with a 14 year old girl,the rebel leader).

The ending is bleak but feels realistic - most of the team die, the guy they captured is released for political reasons. 

It's absolutely one of Granger's better 60s movies.

Movie review - "Ghosts of Rome" (1961) **

 Fantasy comedy about a bunch of ghosts in a castle which is going to be sold. Not a bad concept and the actors have a good time including Marcello Mastroianni and Vittorio Gassman, so I recognised some. There's also Belinda Lee as the girlfriend of the new owner (also played by Mastroianni) - she's  a stripper, naturally.

This went for a bit long and I had auto translate subtitles so didn't pick up on the jokes, but was charming. Well acted, fun, sweet. Moving in that some of the dead are suicides and one is a little boy.