Jess Franco, the walking death of Eurocrime (Part I): The Case of Lemmy Caution

Why has not anybody noticed that? While working my way through the mess that was the german krimi death in 1972, I found it to be strange that the last screened Dr. Mabuse AND the last screened Edgar Wallace Krimi AND the last in Germany produced Bryan Edgar Wallace movie were all directed by Jess Franco. Well, I thought, they just needed somebody to burn money fast, before Dec. 31st., so let's have Jesus do the jobs for us... but then there were other film-cycles that Jesse closed down unceremoniously. Let's see.

1. The Case of Lemmy Caution

This blog is in english, and Lemmy Caution is an american character, written in a series of british spy-private eye-crime novels and never ever was a film produced on that franchise in english. 

But the french really did like him (as the germans liked Edgar Wallace), so they produced 9-11 movies (however you count them) with Eddie Constantine in the lead role as Lemmy Caution. The reason why it is so hard to tell is that whenever Eddie Constantine's undeniably memorable features appear in a movie, you might think that he's Lemmy Caution, even if he does not bear the name.

This was a highly successful series starting in 1953 with "The Poison Ivy" which centers, obviously around a femme fatale. These are highly enjoyable and well-produced crime flicks, trespassing into spy territory as James Bond got famous. 

It is actually here, where Jess Franco's involvement into the Lemmy Caution story starts: Starting in the spanish film-industry he claims (there is no proof than his own "recolections") that he supervised the spanish dubbing for exactly that first Lemmy Caution film.

In 1963, Constantine decided to go "serious" and could only be persuaded to return for a serious, meaningful movie with Lemmy. Well, here we have Jean-Luc-Goddard, the french auteur,non-conformist artiste who worked on miniscule budgets but highly intelligent films (Weekend, someone!??). He offered Constantine to play Lemmy Caution once more this time for the SF-Movie "Lemmy Caution vs. Alphaville", which is a highly effective and evocative peace about truth and deception, willfullness and desperation. I strongly advise anyone to watch this movie. 

Everybody was happy. Goddard got some good reviews and box-office and Constantine played and was accepted in a "serious" movie.

Why not try this again with  another SF/Lemmy Caution movie, directed by an artist, auteur, non-conformist, who worked on miniscule budgets. But -eh- ----- ---- this time he chose Jess Franco.

Case opened: "Cards on the Table" (1966)

So here we have Eddie Constantine playing "Al Perreira" (Franco's X variable whenever he needed a private  eye) but basically it's Lemmy Caution all over again. And everybody knew. 

The plot: A mad scientist uses his army of mechanical monsters to thought-control people with rhesus factor 0. Hm. Where have I heard THAT before? (and after -- see Dr. M!). 

This is more eurospy than anything else, but then, the Lemmy Caution movies were eurospy.

Is it any good? Well, surprisingly this is the rare movie that will please Lemmy Caution, Jess Franco, Eurospy and the average movie goer alike (eh, that's me, here). It is no masterpiece, but it is competently handled, photography on the french blu-ray is crisp and clear (avoid the english releases under "Attack of the Robot Monsters"). This is a very enjoyable movie.

The trailer for the french BD

No, this is certainly no nail in the coffin, so should I dismiss this case? 

Well, a few years later, luck had left scar-faced E. Constantine and he had to fish at the bottom of the barrel for movie roles. And who did he find in cheap Turkey.... exactly... our man. 

Further Investigation: Residencia para espias (Residence for female spies) (1969)

Oh dear. Constantine here plays an US-officer whose job it is to recruit and train female spies in turkey. Jes (sic!), here we are in Franco-wonderland. A bit tame, very silly, but completeley unnecessary for the world outside Francophiles. 

There is actually a (bad) print out there on youtube, so go and watch it for yourself. I really did try to get my hands on a decent release. But there is none. This basically was only shown in Spain and France.

Here, though, Constantine does not play something remotely near Lemmy Caution, so this cannot count as "End of Series".

No, Jess Franco did not kill the "Lemmy Caution" cycle, he was just there to pick up the bones of an already worn-out character and did admirably so. Cartes sur la Table is a strong Franco Film in any way (considering it was shot in 1966). That he came back to rape the corpse in 1969 was unnecessary - but that's what we like about him... don't we? But, to be honest, "Residence" was the last proper Eurospy-film for Constantine who then went to star in some of ultra-low-budget-arthouse-filmauteur Rainer Werner Fassbinder's films. Jean-Luc-Godard directed then the last Lemmy Caution movie "Germany Year 90" giving both (Lemmy and Eddie) a big send-off for his last starring role.

So Jess might not have killed Lemmy Caution, but basically was trying to revive him and gave Eddie Constantine (maybe out of sentimentality) a last chance to play the american agent in 1969.

Verdict: Dismissed by Lack of Evidence. 

"Cartes sur Table" was distributed in the US under the title "Attack of the Robots" by the Landau-Unger Company via AIP, who also distributed the Harry Alan Tower's dullfest "House of 1000 dolls" (total waste of time). AIP was then acquired by the Hollywood-based "Commonwealth United Entertainment Corproation" CUC (see the book "Murderous Passions" by Stephen Thrower for more info on that)  Obviously they liked the ROI on that movie that much that they decided to bring Towers and Franco together, leading to:

Jess Franco versus Dr. Fu Man Chu (Oh, boy!)

The complete Series is HERE

There is a very nice and detailed article on both films on Braineater.com

The Blood-Stained Silver Crescent - The story of the last ever Edgar Wallace Krimi

Rialto decided to enter the Edgar Wallace Krimi market again in 1970 after seeing their competitor CCC films making good money with a small italian-german co-production called "The Bird with Crystal Plumage". Marketed as "new and even harder" (Bryan) Edgar Wallace Krimi, this movie did quite well, given that CCC did not have the marketing muscle that Rialto had. With the money needed to produce one german Krimi, you could easily co-produce 3 foreign ones, still holding all the cards for the domestic markets in their hands. Simultanously, a "real" German Krimi would be produced, ROIs would be compared and then decisions would have to made how to go on further with the franchise. 

The Edgar Wallace franchise was still going strong, attracting about 2% overall market share per film, a number that basically stayed unchanged from 1959-1972!!

The italian co-productions "Solange" and "Orchids" were expected to be below that mark by about 1%, but then the production cost would be only about 1/3 of a german krimi for Rialto. 

The original script was written by Paul Hengge, incorporating the "Silver Crescent" the assassin has to leave behind at every cime-scene to justify the german title: "Das Rätsel des Silbernen Halbmonds" (The Mystery of the Silver Crescent) under the title "Sieben Gesichter für die Mörderin" (Seven Faces for the Murderess). Then it was given to Umberto Lenzi and Roberto Gaianniti for further work, but only slight changes were made from the original screenplay. 

Obviously Lenzi had a problem with too much germanic interference, so the number of technicians, administrators and actors from germany were cut down. 

Krimi-veteran Uschi Glas, who played the lead role, remembered in an interview that Lenzi had a very strong anti-german stance, verging on germanophobia. 

Filming took place before "Solange", but Solange reached the german cinemas first. It was a reasonable success, by far the most successful of all germano-italian co-productions. Maybe this is why Rialto decided to release this one as another Edgar Wallace Krimi, as the third one ("Le Tueur" / Der Killer und der Komissar/ The Killer and the Inspector - filmed in France with Uschi Glas and Fabio Testi) was not released as a Edgar Wallace anymore.

So, "Seven Orchids" became the last picture to be released as official "Edgar Wallace" movie in Germany.

Rialto had done one cert. 18 Edgar Wallace before "Zimmer 13", (Room 13), which had made considerably less money than the others, so they were not willing to let that happen again. This time it should be maximum efficiency, so they trimmed the movie down 20 minutes, cutting the murder sequences and a lot of plot devices. The result is a strange one, the movie is less bloody, paced faster but loses its coherence.  On Blu-Ray, Rialto did publish both versions, with the german one even scanned in 4K from the domestic duplicate negative.

2024 Days at the Grindhouse Part I : June 15th

Well, for over 20 years now, I am a member of this filmclub.  It's a secret one, so I won't tell you the name. The members of this filmclub go down into forgotten movie archives to unearth prints of very obscure or interesting movies. These prints then are shown in an old art-deco cinema-palace, that still has 35mm and 70mm projection. This takes place on a saturday morning and only members are allowed. 

You never know in advance, which films have been unearthed, and there is always one guy in the audience who knows best and gives a little introduction into our feature presentation. In true style, you mostly got a B movie, some trailers and an A movie after the break. 

Sometimes it is the only surviving print of a movie and sometimes they are so corroded and worn out that this will be final time, they can be seen at all. Well, here is my report on today's programme.

1. Der Firmling (GER 1934)

First, we get a prelude film from 1934 (and the print shows it's age) called "Der Firmling" or "The Confirmed One" in which the latter comes into a restaurant with his father to celebrate the religious confirmation. Obviously they do not fit into this high-class enviroment and finally the father gets drunk. A lot of funny stuff happens. I am not a huge fan of the comedian "Karl Valentin" who was - let's say - "Laural AND Hardy" of Bavaria in one person and still is quite well known. This one is pure slapstick and has not aged well. You can watch it here with english subtitles .

2. The Alley Tramp / Ach blas mir doch einen (Marsch)  (USA 1968)

Ok this is one of the prints that basically died with this projection. To my knowledge there is no other german-dubbed print left, so we were to witness something special. This is a Hershell Gordon Lewis Sexploitation potboiler which has ridiculously bad direction, acting, dialoge and plot. I will not complain about the looks of the two female leads but everything else is really, really bad and amateurish. To me HGL is the american equivalent of Andreas Schnaas (Violent Shit). 

The Plot is a bout a 16year old witnessing her parents(!!!!) having sex, getting horny, and seducing all the men (except her father, thank god) she comes across. She becomes pregnant, has an abortion and has to stay in a clinic where she starts (still having pains from the abortion!!) to seduce one of the doctors. 

The film ends with the diagnosis that she is a nymphomaniac. 

-- What could have been a pretty sick move - given the reputation of the director - is a charade. 

The german distributors thought the same and went straight for laughs. The complete soundtrack is exchanged for either cool swinging sixties psychedelia or (in the "sex" scenes) bagpipe-military-march music, which is hilarious, sometimes dialog-snippets from other movies (westerns, crime) are inserted, maybe they had forgot to dub one or the other scene, I have no idea. 

The leads talk in ridiculous provincial german dialects (but each in a different!! one) and the dialogue is hilarious. The original dialogue's self-exploration becomes a farce, presented like this.

The best part is that in the german dub, the whole movie is designed to stage the explanation for her nymphomaniac behaviour -  it's the mother's fault for feeding her too much cocumber salad!. 

The german title translates as. "Oh, just blow me one (march)" - hence the marching music, as there now blowing in sight anywhere...

Sweetie Marie relaxing after her abortion

I honestly don't know how I feel about this, it felt like a complete waste of time as nothing is attractive about this movie, but somehow I am glad to be one of the few to have watched the orginal german dubbed version...

The only memorable thing about this movie is the attractive  Julia Ames who plays the (16 year old of course!!!) daughter... she also was part of Lewis 1968 "Just for the Hell" who has bascally the same people in the same sets. 

Here's a snippet that basically tells it all! an oscar-worthy monologue by Julia Adams. 

3. Trailer Time: 

Fright Night  - in which they want to sell this teeny-horror-comedy as a serious evil film. 

The Kiss - this 1988 movie about a female vampire in a pool??? was unknown to me until now, strange. But it looked interesting. It was quite hard to track down a good version, but now it is on my NAS for further investigation 

 

4. The Hunger / Begierde (UK 1983)

Of course I have been aware of this movie since 1983 but I never came round to watch it in the cinemas and the two times I rented it later, I fell asleep after 20 minutes of stylish boredom. There are only two movies that did that to me: the other one is called "Wolfen" which I still have not seen in it's entirety.

The plot: She (beautiful, beautiful Caterine Deneuve) is an immortal vampire and chooses every 200 to 300 years a new companion (m/f/div) by infecting this person with her blood and promising him/her/it eternal life. Well, eternity for  them  lasts about 200-300 years after which they reach their real physical status within a week, but they too cannot die but just become more and more frail. So she keeps them in coffins in the attic and carries them around. Flashbacks include her origin (Egypt --- lol, is there anyone less-egyptian looking than Deneuve??) and times spent with her corrent lover in the 18th cent. As this one (bautiful, beautiful David Bowie)  experiences this sudden coming-of-age trip he seeks help with an age-reasearching blood specialist (not that beautiful but braless Susan Sarandon). But she thinks he's a loon, so he wanders off killing girls to drink their blood in a desperate but futile move. When Scientist shows up at Vampire's door, the Lover is already in a coffin in the attic, so V seduces S with her Sherry-instead-of-Water-wet-T-shirt-trick to have sex with her and after and abundace of sucking and licking, S ist the new partner -- Until then I would have gotten the movie. It is a basically an ultra-high-budget and ultra-stylish british copy of every second Jean Rollin movie, but without the camp and without any entertainment value. But I would have gotten it.

Did somebody say "Style over content??"

But the movie does not end there. I'm afraid the movie industry bosses got involved and demanded a "good" ending, so S together with L and the other living dead from the attic kill V by literally throwing her down a flight of stairs (immortal! LMFAO) and S becomes the new V. I mean without ANY explanation, any hint on how and why. This is completely ridiculous. (Or maybe I fell asleep when they explained this... man, I don't know...)

The sets, acting, camera and score are B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L, but there is no soul. No soul. I was happy I made it through the movie till the end this time. I was happy to have seen it in all it's analog glory and in a big movie theatre. But actually that was just for the bucket list. Sad to say, but the prologue featuring Pete Murphy from Bauhaus with "Bela Lugosi's Dead" is the best thing in this movie.

Director Tony Scott went on to make "Top Gun" as a "Director-for-Hire", he later returned to the subject to direct the two season premieres of "The Hunger" TV-series, with David Bowie being the host for the second season. This has aged so badly that I wonder who the hell actually watched it first time around. 

Well, don't bother, me sais.

IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN MY 1985/1986 NIGHTS AT THE GRINDHOUSES CLICK HERE!

1985 Grindhouse Nights in Munich's Stachus Kinocenter PART IV: 30th Nov

 

This night consisted of 12 movies by the ultra low-budget "AB" filmdistribution that was founded late 1971, obviously to avoid some of the disturbances caused by legal proceedings around the tax-evasion schemes of film-mogul Horst W. Murrmann. AB stands for Alois Brummer who had  had considerable success as director of the "Count Porno" series. AB was an active film-producer for exactly 10 years (the statue of limitations for tax-evasion crimes in Germany). Needles to say, most of the movies were tax-shelters of the lowest kind with memorable titles like "Dangerous sex of precociously puberting girls" or "While yodeling the Lederhosen itches". There is an interesting documentary that was filmed in 1970 about Alois Brummer and his company "Sex-Business - Made in Pasing". Here we go:

1. Ein Halleluja für 2 Schlitzohren 

The Story of Drunken Master HK 1979

If you have bothered to follow the story of Drunken Master and were looking forward to seeing this one, you know what to expect. So "Beggar So" tries to teach siblings his mixed-style kung-fu which of course goes not down too well with his old enemies. The story is a mere pretext for the numerous fight scenes which are well presented for a end-of-cycle-kung-fu-movie. No disappointment here, if you are into these kinds of film.

Verdict: If you liked the other ones...

 
2. Zwei gelbe Höllenhunde 

Two Assassins of Darkness (TW 1977)

The script to that film must have been dreamed up in a cocaine-soaked fever dream. I will try to make it easy for you: 

Killer 1 (K1) and Killer 2 (K2) are hired by Female Brothel Boss (FBB) through her multiple henchmen (H1-3) basically to kill each other. K1 meanwhile falls in love with one of his targets, the beautiful Step-Sister (SS) to another target (GUY). Going to a monastir to kill SS, K1 meets a monk (M) who tells him out of the blue and without any cause, that his father was one of the traitors 15 years ago who tried to steal a valuable jade-horse from the emperors palace and that his adoptive father (AF) is the one who betrayed his real father. This AF had been training K1 in Kung-Fu to kill all the other traitors (T1-T6), but is also the real father of K2 and trained him too seceretly (K1 does not know about K2), to eventually kill K1. Eventually FBB kills M  because he was just a character invented to tell the story and obviously was T3. Before that she had already killed H2, who was her in-house Killer (H2=K3??), just to show us that she is tough as nails.K1 faces AF who tells him that he has the jade horse, that M is a liar and tries to protect it from the last mysterious TX. Together both  of them and SS and K2 hunt down FBB who is eliminated from the script. They set-up a trap with the jade horse as a lure and GUY steps up trying to get it because he is the son of T4, the trap kills him. Then H1 and H2 show up, capture SS and the jade horse and could run away, but basically tell AF, K1 and K2 to liberate SS in a palace for a show-down. 

This show-down now includes H1, H3, TX, SS, AF, K1, K2 and multiple flying assassins. In the end, we find out why the horse was so valuable. And we find out that the authors of this script knew we would not give a damn.

I think I got it right. My  brain hurts. And, btw SS can kung-fu too and is such a sweetie (Doris Chun-Erh Lung). And of course K1 must have been around 25 when he was "adopted". 

Now.  This is a solid movie, much more like a spaghetti-western and even a giallo or japan yakuza flick than an eastern, esp. in the first two segments of the movie.   Later we go more traditional chinese, with the assassins, which does not hurt, as there are some inventive battles (eg. K1,K2 defend each other while being tangled in a huge net, hanging in the air). A worthwile film, for both western and easterns fans. 

I am not convinced that it was produced in 1977 as everything cries out 1971 here, but what do I know. 

 I  am surprised that this movie is not better known as it has stood the test of time much better than most others. The really, really convoluted script is the only bothersome thing here but that cannot deter from this being a  solid movie, and to me a stand-out eastern.

Verdict: Gem

3. Zwei Schlitzohren in der Knochenmühle (Superfighter III) The Shadowman (HK 1979)

This is an ok Jackie Chan movie with well staged fights and the usual comedy, found in the drunken master series. The German dubbing though is first-rate, making it a joyous watch for me, but I doubt that the same can be said for the english dub. 

Verdict: For J. Chan completists

4. Gipfelglück im Dirndlrock 

Dormitory Girls  (D  1971)

Originally released as "Dangerous Sex of  Precociously Puberting girls", this movie basically was immediately renamed after it's first run. Maybe to cash in on the then popular "Alpine" sex film, maybe because it was too dark in its original dubbing, maybe not. We will never know. 

The new title translates as "Mountaintop Happiness in a Dirndl" which basically adds insult to injury as this quickly and amateurish made movie by Alois Brummer himself is basically a sexploitation roughie with no (real) mountaintop in sight.

 Obviously Elke (Bolten-) Hagen, who went on to make "She-Devils of the SS" for E.C. Dietrich and around two dozen other soft-porn flicks, stars. 

The post-production dubbing (or maybe second dubbing???) suggests that this is all funny, but basically this is a compilation of completely unfunny scenes of girls being harrassed by every kind of man. Their faces, though, never smile...

It's neither funny nor sick enough to be entertaining, it is just unpleasant and a complete waste of time as every scene is decidedly amateurish staged .

Verdict: Stay clear!

5. Frauen hinter Zuchthausmauern  

Women in Cages  (FIL 1974)

"The movie that lifts the veil from the dirtiest racket ever conceived in the minds of vicious men!!!" aka "The Dolls of Devil Island". Here we go again...

A sequel of sorts to  both the "Blood Island" trilogy by Geroardo de Leon and the "Big Doll"-Films (produced by Roger Corman), all set in the Phillipines, this one is a cash in on the WIP movies and what a howler that is. Roger Corman co-produced this so we got american actresses including Pam Grier as an Ilsa stand-in. 

It is actually pretty bad, and if you've seen the "Blood Island" films, you expect this. As an asian movie, nudity is presented strictly from the waist up and violence is only hinted at. AB distribution quickly noticed that there was something missing, re-edited and inserted hc-footage, called the movie "Sexfieber" and let run the porno-cinema circuit.

The version I saw did have some obviously inserted SC stuff, but no HC.

Verdict: Don't bother.

6. Im Knast der heißen Katzen  

Girls in the Tiger Cage (Prisoner 407) (KOR 1976)

Well, imagine this:  Some Korean dude watches Female Prisoner Scorpio and thinks: "Hellyeah! I can do that", without any sense of style, no budget, no Meijko Kaji and completely bugged down by the korean censors. What do you get. This here. The story follows FPS but this time her betraying boyfriend is a Japanese spy and the whole thing is set-up in pre-WWII occupied korea, so that the torture etc. is of course done by evil japanese and not by korean guards (who naturally could never in my life do such things, no sir!). But then again, this is nearly a family-friendly film, so don't bother. Please don't bother. 

The german poster has - as always - nothing to do with the movie. I'm beginning to become suspicious of AB's marketing campaign, needless to say, the movie had different titles in different areas of Germany (EC Dietrich (our man for the dirty underwear) once confessed that he had seen this done a lot by the french, where you had to sell the rights to the movie to 5 different distributors to get a movie properly distributed in the whole of France - naturally these distributors often changed the titles of the movie, so that nobody was able to track down the actual box-office numbers - clever eh?)

Verdict: Don't bother

7. Bruce Lee - Die große Kampfmaschine  

They call him Chop-Suey (FIL 1975)

Presentation of the best the filipinian cinema has to offer commences with "They call him Chop-Suey". Ok. Come on. What do you expect? This is rediculous. Of course, AB Films had to add "Bruce Lee" who is of course not in one frame but is cited in the german dub as "inspiration to Chop Suey". Ok, makes sense. Sorry for being inquisitive. This is actually a lot of fun if you like your bruceploitation served the filipino way. I'm not complaining. 

Verdict: Decent.

8. Ein Dampfhammer unter 1000 Nieten 

Bloodfisted Brothers HK 1978

This basically is Robin Hood retold Eastern style. Master Wan is a highly decorated warrior who roams through the villages performing tricks and entertainment. He helps the oppressed villagers against their evil lord. As I said, Robin Hood. Not bad, not good either. Decent production values.

Verdict: If you've got nothing else going on on a sunday afternoon...

9. Ti Lung - Die tödliche Kobra  
The Shaolin Heroes HK 1980

Shaolin monks are being tortured to stop resisting the evil Manchu aristocracy. This is a very well produced and sharply played late-eastern with enough politics and morality in it to elevate it from the usual run-of-the-mill easterns.

Verdict: Nice.

10. Das Tosende Mädchenpensionat   

Danish Pastries (DK 1973)

There is this boarding school. In Denmark. You see. It is administered by a fanatical astrologist woman who lets the girl only into the classroom if they are in their purple robes with nothing underneath. Bad conduct leads to extensive whipping, which the girls enjoy far too much. Today they discuss the passing of the Virgo Sign (original danish title) through the Goat. 

Oh dear. 

The girls are advised that this will lead to all kinds of sexual trouble which they should stay away from (whipping on the naked back is not considered anything sexual). Well you cannot mess with fate and if the stars say so, what can you do. So the "class" does encounter numerous identifyable set-pieces.  

This is a danish hc-production with a high standard, fresh faces and enjoyable plot. Sometimes it looks as if it would cross over into WIP-P, but then stays clear of it.

Movie must have been a success as it spawned 2 sequels.

11. Feuer zwischen den Lippen   

Vista Valley PTA (US 1982)

Antonio Spinelli burns mafia money in this well staged rehash of the old Joseph W. Sarno movie "Sin in the Suburbs". Acting is good, the overall quality is up to B-movie standard and we see plentiful of ongoings behind provincial houses. 

At this point, though, the whole concept of "suppressed sexuiality in rural places" is a little bit outdated. To spice it up, Spinelli includes a story-line about a evangelical single father who pressures his daughter into incest. This is the 80ies right. Well.

Verdict: For collectors only.

12. Love in Action (Zieh mich aus, Herzchen) 

Expose me, lovely (USA 1976)

Uh, what do we have here. A genuine Film Noir with some HC setpieces thrown in now and then. From the very first minute we are assured that this movie actually wants to emulate the 40ies/50ies Phillip Marlowe style movies as we begin with a faceless man in first-person-perspective and as he looks into the mirror, all we see are bandages. This is so reminiscent of Bogart's "Dark Passages" that everybody knows that this movie does consider itself a contender (we get a lot of references to "Inner Sanctum" "The Lady of the Lake" and "The Big Heat"). And I was not let down.  

While his girlfriend is giving him a BJ, Private Eye is called by a mysterious strange woman whom he later meets and who wants him to find her lost brother.

The actors are quite attractive and can obviously actually play and the plot is always given priority over the hc-scenes. Those were plausible and well acted. The film has the goal to convincingly pair Film-Noir and Porn and it succeeds. The only thing bogging it down is the severly strained budget, but once you can look past this, this is very enjoyable.

Verdict: GEM and Movie of the Week!

If you've missed the other parts:

PART 1

PART 2

PART 3

 

My personal tribute to the 60th anniversary of "Blood and Black Lace" aka "Der Würger mit der Maske" aka "Sei Donne per l'assassino" aka "Blutige Seide"

60 years ago, "Sei Donne per L'Assasino" prermiered. It was co-produced by Erwin C Dietrich's (Greta, Jack the Ripper) Monachia Films who had just had a considerable financial success with their take on the Edgar Wallace krimis called "The Strangler with the Nylon Noose". For legal reasons (CCC possessed the rights to "The Strangler..." in german movie titles), that movie is now known as "The Nylon Noose". 

The follow-up was called "Der Würger mit der Maske" - "The Strangler with the Mask" and was actually shown under this title in german speaking Austria and Switzerland. In Germany however, the title had to be changed again into "Bloody Silk", referring to the fashion-house setting. The americans who bought the movie ("for a minor six-figure dollar sum" - which was basically what the movie had cost in the first place!!!) falsely translated that title to "Blood and Black Lace".

This is my little tribute to that movie. Have fun. And happy birthday to the Strangler with the Mask!

P.S: (Ah, and yes, I do music. If you are interested, hop over to the sister-blog about my little band called CREAMVIII)

 

My personal Top 10 Genre Films

 I've been asked about my personal top 10 genre Films, the ones I've always come back to throughout my life, that I purchased in every format from VHS to dvd, BD, UHD and where I really tried to see them with an audience in a cinema. I do not include the usual suspects, those films that everybody knows, basically all american major studio-productions although of course I did like "Watchmen" very much.

I have included further suggestions if you liked one particular movie. If you got any additional suggestions, please be so kind to leave a comment.

10. Under the Silver Lake 2018 (USA)

Directed by the man that brought you "It follows", this is an ambitious, thought-provoking neo-noir conspiracy-theory thriller dedicated to Alfred Hichcock and Brian De Palma. From the first frame ("Beware of the Dog Killer?) on we get transformed to Vertigo-Land with a heavy dose of Body-Double gore and drifting boy meets girl, loves girl, loses girl. There is so much to see and hear and think about in this very well  made movie that demands repeated viewings. And absolutely rewards them. What happened to the girl? What happened to the celebrity? What's beneath the Silver Lake? Who is the unshaved Owl-Woman super-villain assassin? Why does all music sound alike today? Will Sam keep his flat? And who the Hell is the Dog-Killer - the last question you have to find out yourself using the clues given to you throughout the movie -- yes it's that kind of film.

There are actually numerous feature-length documentaries out there trying to decode the movie (but that would spoil the fun) which tackles the same (and sadly true) topic as "Short Night of the Glass Dolls".

I've shown this to numerous people and they do not get it. To me, this is everything. And a goddamn good movie. And - of course - in the meantime became the subject of a conspiracy theory on it's own. The original soundtrack is phenomenal. btw.

Here's the official trailer: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwgUesU1pz4

Further viewing from here : Body Double, Vertigo, Lodge 49, Short Night of the Glass Dolls

9. Die Hölle-Inferno 2017 (AUSTRIA/GERMANY)

Directed by an oscar-winning austrian guy, this is as much a throwback to the giallo-genre from across

the border as it is a a social study of vienna's immigré society and a poliscetti all in one. Immaculate in direction, design and acting (Tobias Moretti always was one of my favourite actors), the real stand-out is the stellar performance by Violetta Schulawrow who is the toughest stalker-victim you have ever seen. There is very little not to like about this violent, action-packed movie about a manic killer who skins prostitutes (you've been warned!).

Nobody knows this movie, but everybody  -EVERYBODY - is completely on my side after having watched it. Known as "Cold Hell" in Englishspeakingcountry.

The trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBcDdCwRMQQ

Further viewing from here: Das finstere Tal

8. I, Madman 1989 (USA)

Directed by the man who had a minor success with "The Gate" and got enough money to produce this "opus magnum" and who sadly was not given any cash to direct decent things any more from then on. Here, he throws it all at your face. Every nerd's dreamgirl is huge into used pulp fiction novels and stumbles across a novel that makes her investigate the author's life, only to find out that he lives inside the books she's reading as he is investigating her.

Again this film has everything, a very solid 80is direction a likable and hot actress, used booksstores, secret findings in the attic and a killer that is very, very original and very disturbing. The money is well spent on flashbacks to the 1950s (the area the books were written), giving you a welcome feel of nostalgia. 

Sometimes hard to come by, the HD BD transfer is a revelation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CThhGkTY4Y

Further viewing from here: Spider Labyrinth, Dreamscape, 

The Sect, The Caller (Malcom MacDowell)

7. Demons 1985 (ITA)

Directed by the son of the man who inspired my favourite director, this has 1985, Berlin, The Metropol, Punk, Post-Punk, Onibaba, Nostradamus, Movie-in-Movie and so much, oh so much Gore. 

It's like they checked every box I would have put on a wish-list for a good movie. And that it is. It moves at a brisk pace, has a lot of genre inside references (the building, the mask!, the helicopter!!), comments about the Berlin Wall and the cold war situation, ok acting and terrific gore. The  few  musical pieces Claudio Simonetti threw in are perfect and I got them all on the original LP and 12" Maxidisc. 

The story: Preview audience of an obscure 80ies  slasher movie are demonised by a mask? the movie? the movie theatre? a plague? Who knows. Who cares. In the end, they tear this place apart. Like, totally...

The HDR 4K release brought tears to my eyes and endless enjoyment.

And am I the only one who actually wants to see the movie they project in the theatre here? At least a rough-cut of all the existing scenes??? Petition plase. And no: "Graveyard Disturbance" by Lamberto Bava has basically the same plot but being a cheap TV-production comes not even close. The title song, though is a banger and should have been in "Demons".  You can listen to it here. - And yes, they did use it in "Demons 3" aka "The Church".

Avoid the sequel. I mean, avoid it after you've seen the first one. Although it is a solid movie on its own it is just three complete steps down in every department from the original one. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_59ssegTKr4

Further viewing from here: One Cut of the Dead, Blood red Sky

 

6. Raisins de la Mort 1981 (FR)

Directed by the man who filmed this shot: 

Brigitte Lahaye In the night, steaming, with two doberman dogs in midst of a village full of zombies. That's it. You don't need more to convince me that this is a masterpiece for eternity. 

Even Lahaye admits that this is the image everyone will remember her for. To me this came totally unannounced while I watched an obscure movie called "Torture Mill of the Captured Women" (this is how it was called here) as 18-year old in a grindhouse with the copy shown being so worn out that it was an experience on it's own. 

This is of course not about a mill or captured women, more about a vinyard (which of course might have a grape press which might be called a mill in the furthest of all associations - but that does not show up in the movie once!) and crucified women (well there is a sort-of-held-captive woman in a farmhouse... not a mill). And they were killed by men who drank the wine they themselves had polluted with pesticides. This is so socially relevant and politically correct that it should be obligatory to show in all college classes. Petition please. The students will not complain. Maybe their parents, but only because they were not allowed in.

And it is directed by Jean Rollin. This film started my fascination with this little french man. And how worthwile was that!

This movie actually has an ugly look to it that totally captures how these countrysides really look like in autumn. I've been there. So thumbs up for authenticity.

The movie has been ridiculed as a tax-shelter throwaway, lacking the lyricism of Jean Rollin's other movies. But really this is well thought out. The scene described above is direct hommage to Barbara Steele in "La Mascera del Demonio", I bet you did not know that :-)!

Legendary Brigitte (SFW)

Legendary Barbara

Brigitte herself remembers the shooting like this: 

"This legendary night, temperatures were multiple degrees below the freezing point. Thus the camera stopped rolling again and again as the motor could not work the reels anymore..as I was standing there, undressed...and everybody was staring at me so strangely." I bet they were. As was me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z82_93Nh24U

Further viewing from here: All Jean Rollin movies and

The House with  laughing windows

5. Belfegor 1965 (FR)

A french 4-part TV-movie series. Yes. And the eeriest thing ever to be shot on film. I watched it first when I was 6 years old and it scarred me for life. When it first came out on french DVD 30 years later I was virtually shaking to watch it again and still it was so menacing. Since then I showed it to numerous people and all have the same reaction "You were shown this on TV when you were a child??? OMG". It is true and I stand by my word, this is some of the eeriest things you have ever witnessed. So what is it about: Well, guards at the Louvre Museum in Paris are murdered by the Ghost of an ancient Babylonian God. The tension and fear in this stark black and white film is unbearable, even when we get to see "Belfegor" itself. I kid you not. This is an excercise in style and a very, very nice throwback to 60ies culture. Besides this, this is very well written and deals with ancient alchemy, ghosts, books and paperslips in tins. I have no idea how someone in englishlanguagecountry can get a hand on a dubbed or even subbed version, but if you are into 60ies eerie bw movies, this is a must. And being 360 minutes long, you really get the full treatment. 

Lars von Trier has stated that this series inspired him to "Kingdom".

It stars chansonette Juliette Greco, and in lack of a movie poster (it was a TV-series after all), this is the original soundtrack. The serial was released on a near-perfect french dvd and two not-so-perfect german dvd's, all of them without english subs/dubs.

Belfegor was originally filmed in 1927 as a silent 12 chapter serial (which is available in a very good restored version) and was sequelled in the 2000s (both versions are not very good, though). 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXqZo4vgFp8

Further viewing from here: Les Compagnons d'Eleusis, 

Lodge 49, Le Collectionneur des Cerveaux, Kingdom (TV-Series)

4. The Innocents 1961 (UK)

Even older is this movie that is hauntingly beautiful and completely unnerving. It is one of the great classics of the haunted-house genre, but very often overlooked. To the thinking spectator this movie hits like a hammer with his codings on sexuality and morality, constructivism and objectivism. It is a very, very saddening movie that demands repeated viewings to be fully understood. But when, the message hits you even harder. As time goes by, I start to hesitate to watch this movie as it unnerves me too much. Have a nice sleep after that. 

This the best-crafted and polished movie on this list. 

When it was released it was advertised as "the first haunted house movie for adults". Back then "adults" meant "educated" not "copulating". 

If you have not seen it, I won't spoil the movie to you, but the premise is that a female teacher is hired to teach two children, with the boy being far too adolescent for his age.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOsF0S65RR0

Further viewing: The Spiral Staircase, Bunny Lake is missing

3. The Great Silence 1968 (ITA/FRA)

Kinski is the killer/bounty hunter. JL Tritignant is the silent mercenary hired to protect. A snow western. I love snow westerns. I love spaghetti-snow-westerns even more (is there actually another one out there?). And seeing Kinski always gives me the creeps (as it rightfully should - he's testament to the knowledge that if we let freaks entertain us, we should not look too deeply under their surfaces - after all, they are freaks). 

This is one bastard son-of-a-bitch of a movie, nihilistic, brutal. A movie to end all movies. It did not make sense to produce westerns after that one. If you haven't got it by now that this world is an evil place full of evil humans and that the good ones are just sheep ready to be slaughterd, this movie will undeniably prove it to you.

And director Damiano actually calls it: after this movie, there is only silence, numbness and desperation. The silent mercenary, the silence produced by the snow, the silence of the victims, the silence after the last shot was fired and our silence as an audience. This is a deeply political movie.

Essential.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmEz3kdDevA

Further viewing: Death Sentence (Western)

2. The Killer 1989 (HK)

The best movie John Woo has ever directed, this one is so well constructed and choreographed and as I have to sort the movies in this list, this is the one dearest to me. Bro films always enchant me and this is the ultimate one. 

A killer is hired for a hit on a mob-boss but injures the bar singer who loses her eyesight due to his shot. He decides to take care of her but gets entangled in a big-time order his best buddy has arranged for him. The procedure is standard, the design immaculate.

The final shoot-out in the chapel is too beautiful to be believed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cdxehm0NxkU

Further viewing: The Man who would be king, Internal Affairs

1. Tenebre 1981 (ITA)

Destiny brought me to this movie and every 2 to 3 years a new edition is published and I have to buy it and watch the movie and everytime I get excited.  I discover new things and to me this is the finest 

a) Argento 

b) Giallo 

c) Genre Film 

ever. When I was 17 I had a stop-over at the main station in K-town. In the bookstore you could get american newspapers and there I discovered a mag called "Fangoria" and I bought it. Man. Full of strange and unknown films and an interview with a man called "Dario Argento". He was talking about his new film and how he used special film material on his movies and so on. A year later the movie premieres at my local cinema right after my 18th birthday. I took the bus for a saturday afternoown showing and sat there with 3 dudes to watch it in uncut glory. I had never seen/heard/witnessed anything like this. Goblin soundtrack, Camera, Gore, Tension, Fear, Sex. Everything was there. And it still is a great movie. 

Ah, the story: Well, american bookauthor comes to Rome to find out his crime-novels murders are being copied in real-life. The script is - if you pay attention - very tightly plotted and everything makes sense in the end. Don't be fooled into "This is a cheap italian slasher film". This is Argento's statement on himself, his art, the media and the audience. The last Argento movie to make it big in Italy (#16 in the Box-Office year-end chart), this is his finest achievement and most personal film. Forget Nicollodi's mumbo-jumbo technicolor fairy tales. This one the the real Argento.

The film was prohibited from being shown on TV in Italy (not because of gore&sex - they do not care there - the descendents of the joyous romans (did you see Caligula btw???)) as one actress became the wife of the italian president.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFGaLrteV9Y

Further viewing: Perfect Blue, Deep Red, Opera, NonHoSonno

Giallo performance in Italy 1964-1982

Here's a list of gialli that made it to the year's end charts (only top 100 were recorded) in Italy. From 1963-1967 no giallo was recorded to be in the top 100.