PRIMITIVE SCREWHEADS

Barbarella 1969

Barbarella 1969 Based on the comic book Barbarella by Jean-Claude Forest, screenplay by Terry Southern, Roger Vadim, Claude Brulé, Vittorio Bonicelli, Clement Biddle Wood, Brian Degas, Tudor Gates and Jean-Claude Forest, directed by Roger Vadim. I went to see Barbarella in the theater when it was new. I liked it then and still do.

Jane Fonda plays Barbarella, an agent for the Earth government, who's sent to Tau Ceti to capture Duran Duran and retrieve his new weapon, the positronic ray, that could wipe out humanity. Her ship has trouble and crashes on a planet in the Tau Ceti system. She has a series of adventures trying to find Duran Duran. She's almost killed by murderous dolls but gets rescued by a hairy man who captures runaway children. He introduces her to real physical sex, long gone out of favor on Earth, and send her off to the main city of Sogo.

In Sogo Barbarella meets the blind angel Pygar, Professor Ping, the Black Queen, Dildano and the Concierge. She finds Duran Duran and escapes the clutches of the evil Black Queen with the help of Dildano and Pygar. She shags a few of them along the way.

It's all pretty silly and entertaining, even after numerous viewings over the years. The sets, costumes and characters are fun and there's always something to see as the story plays out. I just picked up the Arrow 2 disc Blu-ray and that was packed with hours of extras, including a commentary by Tim Lucas. Worth picking up for the fans of the movie.

Science Fiction Sunday 803

2 + 5 Missione Hydra 1966 Written by Pietro Francisci and Fernando Paolo Girolami, directed by Pietro Francisci. A dubbed version was released in the US in 1977 under the title Star Pilot. It has a new script by Ian Danby and additional footage from other movies. I saw the US version some years ago. I picked up the Blu-ray during the current Kino Lorber sale. It has the original film and the US version. I watched both and listened to the commentary on the original version.

The movie opens as a spaceship from the planet Hydra lands on Sardinia and buries itself in the ground. Next we spend some time with a young lady on a movie set. She drives around Rome with her friend and goes to pick up her scientist father. They get involved with an accident and takes an unconscious man to a clinic at the airport. The actress, her friend and her father all take a ride in a helicopter to a remote location. The unconscious man wakes and runs off to join the suspicious guys in a big car.

At the remote camp the scientist and his team do some work, it leads them to a cave where they find and enter the ship. The aliens observe the humans and figure they might be the ones needed to make repairs to their ship. They take the scientist, his daughter and a couple of technicians hostage and make them do the work.

Once the ship is repaired the aliens decide to take the humans with them to Hydra. During the flight the humans rebel. The ship is damaged and a photonic storm sends them to a strange planet the aliens are unfamiliar with, they land and look the place over. There's some time for romance before the ape creatures attack. There's a bit of a battle and the ship leaves. They return to Earth to find the place a mess, cities have been destroyed. There's a montage of destruction and some dramatic music. They leave the Earth behind and travel to another planet where they meet some nice aliens. 

It's much more entertaining to see the Italian version of the film. It's still not a great film but the story holds together a bit better. It comes across as more satirical and camp, similar to films like Barbarella and Wild Wild Planet. The 4K restoration is nice looking with clear images and sound track. There's a spirited audio commentary with David Del Valle and Matteo Molinari. David's a film historian and Matteo works in the film industry. Matteo was born and raised in Italy until he moved to the US as a teenager. They've got a good bit of info to share. Glad I bought the Blu-ray. I'll probably watch it again someday.

The Pleasure Girls 1964

The Pleasure Girls 1964 Written and directed by Gerry O'Hara.

Francesca Annis plays Sally, she moves to London to move in with Angela, played by Anneke Willis, and Dee, played by Suzanna Leigh. The ladies hang out with Dexter, played by Ian McShane, and Nikko, played by Klaus Kinski. They hang out with other young adults for all the usual reasons.

There's a good cast, I knew some of them, those above and Tony Tanner, Mark Eden, Carol Cleveland, David Graham and Hugh Futcher. The script's alright but there's not much going on but dating and personal problems. Slight enjoyment watching it but not something I'd get back to again.

School For Sex 1969

School For Sex 1969 Produced, written and directed by Pete Walker. The second film in the Kino Lorber Blu-ray with For Men Only.

 

Lord Wingate sets up a finishing school for bad girls. He teaches them ways to scam money from rich men. He'll take a cut from their spoils. The first girls come from a local prison. The scheme works for a while, then comes tumbling down.

There's plenty of  jokes, some of them dumb and some less so. I don't remember laughing at a gag but some scenes made me laugh. There's plenty of dumb writing and goofy scenes as the girls get trained up in swindling. Sadly, at their best these girls aren't up to the girls from St Trinian's.

I liked it better than For Men Only but it's still below average. Pete Walker has said he thought it was a terrible film. I might watch it again someday but mostly to see Nosher Powell again. Some might remember him from Eat The Rich, The Comic Strip or The Sweeney.

The version on the disc is the regular UK version, there are a number of extra scenes that have more nudity what were for areas that were more permissive of nudity. They might have allowed more nudity in the US, I don't know for sure. It made good box office in the US, around $2.5 million, that's nearly $18 million today.

The Mermaid 1965

The Mermaid 1965 Screenplay by Cheh Chang and directed by Li Kao. A Hong Kong Huangmei opera play from the Shaw Brothers. Ivy Ling Po plays a male character, a common thing in the Huangmei opera, like it was during Shakespeare's time.

Zhang Zhen is betrothed to the daughter of Prime Minister Master Chen. Zhang visits the family compound to meet his obligation. He isn't well received by the PM. Zhang's family has fallen on hard times since the agreement was made and Zhang isn't seen as a good candidate for a husband. The PM tells Zhang that he'll reconsider him if he becomes a top scholar.

A year later Zhang hasn't done as well as he hoped and his betrothed Peony has long since forgotten him. No matter Zhang has made friends with a carp and the fish in a pond outside his study. The carp spirit visits Zhang disguised as Peony and he thinks she's interested in him. Time passes before he sees her again. If fact, when he does, he's seeing the real Peony, she rebuffs him again.

Thing go around and around and there's way too much singing and dancing about for me. Goddesses get involved and bring about a happy ending. It was mostly entertaining and I did like the under the water sets, all the fish and the underwater flora. You can take a crack on it on YouTube. Maybe you'd like it.

Friday Night Movies 969

Arsène Lupin Vs Arsène Lupin 1962 Screenplay by Georges Neveux, François Chavane and Édouard Molinaro, directed by Édouard Molinaro. This is the third film in the Lupin collection from Kino Lorber. It's a good trio of films but the set lacks any interesting extras.

 

Poor André Laroche has died, there's a big funeral, attended by many. The local magistrates wife tells her son François that she had an affair with Laroche, the result was a son. She also drops the bombshell that Laroche was Arsène Lupin.

A lawyer asks François to stop by for a message from Laroche, when he does he finds out there's a second son and he's supposed to find him. The magistrate finds out François is a petty thief, stealing small items from the homes of people who have invited the family to visit. There's also a sub plot involving a cache of jewels belonging to the dethroned royal family of Poldavia. The two sons eventually meet and help out the Poldavians.

 

I thought it was pretty entertaining, there's action and danger, a bit of romance and a good amount of comedy. It's a nice trio of films that I know I will want to watch again sometime.

The 30 Foot Bride Of Candy Rock 1959 I watched this a few weeks back. Here's that post.

Three On A Spree 1961

Three On A Spree 1961 Based on the 1902 novel Brewster's Millions by George Barr McCutcheon, screenplay by Sig Herzig, James Kelly, Wilkie C Mahoney, Peter Miller and Charles R Rogers, directed by Sidney Fury. It was made into a play in 1906 and there are 12 other adaptations besides this one. The first three adaptations are lost films and there are 6 foreign adaptations.

Jack Watling plays a young businessman called Michael Brewster, he's been left £8,000,000 on the condition he spend an 8th of it in just two months. He can't tell anyone what he's up to, including his fiance. There are a few other conditions that help make his life complicated. He gets some help but they help him make money instead of getting rid of it. It's touch and go right up to the last minute.

 

It's a rather pleasant comedy with a good script and cast. It gave me a few laughs and I know I'd watch it again sometime.

Be My Guest 1965

Be My Guest 1965 Story and screenplay by Lyn Fairhurst, produced and directed by Lance Comfort. A British film shot at Pinewood Studios and was released as a the B movie for the Morecambe and Wise film The Intelligence Men. It was the sequel to Live It Up! 

David  Hemmings is in a band with his mate Steve Marriott. David's parents have inherited a seaside hotel. The band helps get customers to stay at the hotel. That's pretty much the plot, the rest of the movie is filled with musical numbers by a diverse group of musicians.

It was fun and breezy. I skipped up through a few of  the musical numbers. Others might like them more.

Gambit 1966

Gambit 1966 Original story by Sidney Carroll, screenplay by Jack Davies and Alvin Sargent, directed by Ronald Neame. I watched the Kino Lorber Blu-ray and the movie looked very nice. Ronald started as a cinematographer in 1930s Britain, he started directing in 1947 and he'd directed 26 films when retired in 1990. You might have seen Man With A Million, The Horse's Mouth, A Man Could Get Killed, Prudence And The Pill, The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie, The Poseidon Adventure or The Odessa File.

Michael Caine plays Harry Dean, with the help of his art forger pal Emile he plans to steal a priceless statue from a rich Arab called Ahmad Shahbander. Shirley MacLaine play Nicole, a dancer with just the right face.

Herbert Lom plays Ahmad, the statue is of a 2000 year old Chinese woman who is the spit of his dead wife. She died a year after they were married and he loved her so much he never remarried. Nicole also looks like Ahmad's dead wife and Harry plans to use her face to get into Ahmad's apartment so he can case the place.

Harry's got a magnificent plan in his head but carrying it out is another story. As you'd expect in a comic heist film things go wrong and Harry has to improvise. There's plenty of laughs as the story unfolds. There's a bit of tension and a bit of romance. The movie has a satisfying ending.

The disc has an audio commentary with 98 year old Ronald Neame, it was pretty entertaining, sadly he died the following year. There's a second audio commentary with film historians Howard S Berger, Sergio Mims and Nathaniel Thompson. The guys liked the picture and were happy to chat about it and it's cast and crew. There's also a theatrical trailer.

Friday Night Movies 948

Space Monster Wangmagwi 1967 Written by Byeon Ha-yeong and directed by Kwon Hyeok-jin. A South Korean movie that's been unseen in the West until SRS Cinema licensed the film in 2022, they released it on media June 13 2023. I bought the DVD that was on Amazon.

SRS ruins the experience by having one of the loudest menu screens I've heard in a while. Another annoying thing, the box lies by claiming the film is 1080p but it's really 720p. It's probably talking about the limited edition Blu-ray which they don't sell through Amazon. They only made 2000 copies and aren't making anymore. I find the limited edition treatment as annoying as any really annoying thing.

Some space aliens invade the Earth, the giant monster guy is their weapon. He stumbles around a bit, scares the locals, knocks over some buildings, and uses a gas spray in it's head to burn some other office blocks. Despite the collateral damage it's hardly exciting stuff. A jet pilot, his wife and a homeless boy fight the monster and win. The aliens leave with their tails between their legs. The subplot with the bride and her mother was funny but it was really mostly padding to get the movie to 90 mins.

There were some funny bits and some odd bits. Different sense of humor. In a crowded space in a building a man really needs to go, he decides to go on a newspaper in a corner, the monster bumps into the building and he's knocked over into his own pooh. Across the room a woman gives birth to a child. There are several scenes with two scared guys, they just aren't that funny for the amount of screen time they get.

I did like the part where the homeless kid pees inside the head of Wangmagwi. That's not something you see very often. All in all it was kind of fun but not great. A lot of people on the IMDb, 19 out of 51 voters, gave the movie a 6 or a 7, I'm struggling to give it a 5.

Notzilla 2020 Written and directed by Mitch Teemley. It's a parody of kaiju films that was made in Cincinnati.

The JSDF kills a monster in Japan. A paleontologist takes her egg and heads for Ohio. Through a silly accident the eggs gets out of his control. An idiot scientist and his more capable assistant find the egg, it hatches and they try to take care of it. The paleontologist finds they and despite his warning not to get the monster beer, the idiot scientist does so. The little kids size monster grows really big and gets out.

There's a struggle between the idiot scientist and the paleontologist, the idiot wants to kill the creature and the paleontologist wants to revert him to his original zine. There's plenty of running about as they put their plans in motion. A romance develops between the paleontologist and the assistant.

There were a lot of jokes but I wasn't finding them that funny. A lot of it fell flat to me. It's almost like they're trying too a little too hard. It's got a good size cast and they all have a quirky personality. A bit tiring. There were so many in jokes and movie references they became rather distracting. Someone gave me a download, I'll keep it but I might not get back to it anytime soon. You can watch it on YouTube.