The Colossus of Rhodes

Back in the heyday of new dvds, a fun collection were the 'Cult Camp Classics': Vol 4 was Historical Epics and featured those perennial camp favourites (but also great entertainment) LAND OF THE PHAROAHS and THE PRODIGAL, plus THE COLOSSUS OF RHODES from 1961, which I remembered enjoying as a kid. It had all the required elements: colour, spectacle, earthquakes and that giant colossus straddling Rhodes harbour .... it featured a past-it ageing American star: Rory Calhoun, in a selection of mini-togas and nice shoewear and capes, a young cutie (Angel Aranda) and of course a slinky lady - Lea Massari, the girl who vanished from that island in Antonioni's L'AVVENTURA and fetched up here. 

This one is notable now as the first feature by Sergio Leone, who does give it some imaginative touches. It is though almost as satisfying as ATLANTIS THE LOST CONTINENT, also '61, and Aldrich's sadistically camp SODOM AND GOMORRAH from 1962 (before he returned to America to tackle Blanche and Baby Jane Hudson....)

Seeing it again now its rather fun, and there are some fun comments on it, over at IMDB:
Sergio Leone's directorial debut is rife with scantily clad men whose rippling muscles and abs are fully exposed while they wrestle or undergo torture and bondage. The national pastime in Rhodes must have been doing crunches and lifting weights, because even the mature men have flat tight stomachs and bulging biceps. 

Meanwhile, the women, while lovely of face, remain chastely clothed and relegated to the sidelines. The homo-erotic visuals of this tale of ancient Rhodes call into question the film's intended audience. Were there enough closeted gays in the early 1960's to make a success of mediocre movies such as this? 

American actor, Rory Calhoun, a fading western hero who was obviously hired only for his name, wanders through the proceedings like a stranger in a strange land in more ways than one. Portraying the Greek Darios as an American on holiday, Calhoun remains nonplussed in the face of death, torture, and the lures of beautiful women. Decidedly less buff than his Italian counterparts, Calhoun nevertheless overwhelms men whose physical strength obviously exceeds that of his own lean build. Perhaps his attire gave him self-confidence. The stylish mini-togas with colorful scarves thrown over one shoulder and white, laced boots to the mid-calf make Calhoun resemble Captain Marvel more than an ancient warrior. Right: Calhoun with Leone. 

In the scenes between Calhoun and Lea Massari as Diala, there is little doubt that neither performer knows what the other is saying. Calhoun recites his lines in English while Massari recites hers in Italian. It's a genuinely spectacular affair offering pretty much everything you could want from a peplum – muscle men, corrupt rulers, rebels and conspiracies, torture in the dungeons and the arena, the spectacular destruction of a city in a natural disaster and imported American star Rory Calhoun imitating Victor Mature. Steve Reeves still ruled. Delirious or what!

Romy & Ludwig

Some lovely new photos of another of our perennial favourites Romy Schneider as Elizabeth of Austria in Visconti's 1973 opus LUDWIG. Romy had began playing Sissi in those German films of the 1950s, but returned to the role for Visconti, creating an older, more cynical Sissi who tries to help Ludwig of Bavaria - Helmut Berger is quite astonishing here too. and we also get Silvana Mangano and Trevor Howard as the Wagners, plus - as per with Visconti - a lot of handsome men. More on it at Visconti, Romy labels. 

SISSI, 1955

LUDWIG did not fare too well at the time, it hardly played in London but I saw it at the Film Festival - the dvd now has a good print and there is a lot to fascinate in it. 

The Ballroom of Romance

William Trevor, the great Irish writer has died at age of 88. We celebrate his great output of novels and short stories. Some of them, like FELICIA'S JOURNEY, FOOLS OF FORTUNE, THE OLD BOYS have been filmed. Here is a lovely version of his short story THE BALLROOM OF ROMANCE, made in 1982. It captures that lonely Irish life on farms perfectly and the frustrations of single women looking for the right, or any, man ... Trevor is worth investigating if you do not know his work. His other short stories are perfect too: "Angels At The Ritz", "The Day We Got Drunk on Cake", "Lovers Of Their Time". "The Hill Bachelors", "The News From Ireland" etc. 

Plan B

Many thanks to Colin for this treat.

Bruno is dumped by his girlfriend; behind a calm, indifferent expression, his mind plans a cold, sweet vengeance. She, a modern girl, keeps on seeing him once in a while, but has another boyfriend, Pablo. Bruno becomes Pablo's friend, with the idea of eroding the couple, maybe introducing him to another woman. But, along the way, the possibility of a plan B arises, a more effective one, which will put his own sexuality into question.

Set in Buenos Aires, this witty beguiling 2009 feature by Argentine-born director Marco Berger masquerades as a romantic comedy, only to confound expectations by testing its boundaries of gender. The film invites us to explore contemporary ideas of freedom and desire, and to question what it means to play with love and bisexuality. PLAN B is Berger’s first feature film and was presented at the London BFI Gay & Lesbian Film Festival and then taken on tour.

This is a charming gay-tinged Latin American film, following on from DONA HERLINDA AND HER SON in 1975 from Mexico, or Cuaron's  Y TU MAMA TAMBIEN, and Peru’s UNDERCURRENT (reviews at gay interest label), and the Canadian CLOUDBURST. 
The initial problem is that the guys are not the usual good-looking stereotypes of gay movies, they both look scruffy, if not scuzzy, to our eyes now – all that hair and beards, but as we get to know them this does not matter and we really being to root for them to discuss their feelings, which happens in that blissful final scene. We liked it a lot.  There is no actual sex, we just see the guys on sleepovers getting more familiar with each other, as the girlfriend is still there, seeing them both separately.

Then they finally come together.

The BFI said: “A beautifully shot reflection on male foibles and friendships …. Grounded in two outstanding performances by Manuel Vignau and Lucas Ferraro that avoid empty rhetoric and easy clichés”. 

Belinda

One more fabulous lady before we move on to other things ...... we like Belinda Lee a lot, I first saw her as a kid in the 1957 DANGEROUS EXILE and she had some other Rank Organisation starrers too, like THE SECRET PLACE, MIRACLE IN SOHO, NOR THE MOON BY NIGHT, as per reviews on them at Belinda label. 

She was also a player in European cinema and got caught up in that LA DOLCE VITA era in Rome in the late Fifties, having a scandalous romance with an Italian married prince Filippo Orsini, which caused headlines, with both of them attempting separate suicide attempts. Belinda though was not long for this world, but certainly crammed a lot into her 25 years, before perishing in a car accident in California in March 1961. She now has a headstone in a Rome cemetery. (Above with Gerard Philipe). 

She starred in a lot of Italian peplums like APHRODITE in '57, MESSALINA, THE NIGHTS OF LUCREZIA BORGIA (now on YouTube) and was starting to appear in French New Wave items like LES DRAGUEURS in 1959, and a great Italian drama, Vancini's THE LONG NIGHT OF '43 which showed she could be another Loren or Mangano, she is also fun in a comedy with Mastroianni and Gassman GHOSTS OF ROME in 1960. I have covered her career in more detail in earlier posts. (A starlet had to pose looking busy in the kitchen too...)

Thanks to Jerry, whom I met for drinks and swops on Friday, he gave me a Belinda fridge magnet ! (right). Ta doll. He has been busy tracking down her more obscure items. She began of course as one of THE BELLES OF ST TRINIANS in 1954 (the glamorous one), and was foil for Benny Hill, Ian Carmichael and other comedians - no wonder she went to Italy! She remains England's lost siren, the glamour girl who did not survive, unlike contemporaries Anita Ekberg, Shirley Eaton, Diana Dors, Anne Heywood etc. 

Kay

Another favourite lady, I see a theme here .... Kay Kendall, a patron saint of The Projector, as per the posts on her, at label. 

LONDON TOWN is a perfectly dreadful British musical from 1946 - trying to copy the Americans who were doing this kind of thing so much better.  It stars a comedian Sid Field, who has not aged well at all and looks terribly dated now - give me Arthur Askey any time - with a very young Petula Clark as his daughter, and Kay - just 18 here - is the ingenue, a young showgirl. The film was a huge flop and practically sunk her starting career, the Forties fashions do not suit her at all, but one can see her emerging talent - she went back to being a showgirl, with her sister - but seven years later she got that role that defined her, the trumpet playing model in GENEVIEVE. (She had already done bits in DANCE HALL, IT STARTED IN PARADISE and more). 

GENEVIEVE was followed by favourites like THE CONSTANT HUSBAND, SIMON AND LAURA, QUENTIN DURWARD, then thankfully Cukor, Minnelli and Donen got her in her prime for their delicious treats, they knew how to showcase stylish ladies -
 she went to Hollywood for LES GIRLS (above, with Gene Kelly) taking pal Gladys Cooper's corgi June with her for company (right); THE RELUCTANT DEBUTANTE teamed her with new husband Rex Harrison (and Angela Lansbury and Sandra Dee, below) and is sheer bliss too, she looks sadly frail in ONCE MORE WITH FEELING, her last film, she died of leukemia in Sep 1959, aged 33. 

I have been to that nice churchyard in Hampstead, where her stylish headstone is just right. (See previous posts at label). As a stylish comedienne she was compared to Carole Lombard, and was a friend of Dirk Bogarde's, and a favourite of Monica Vitti - see post below. Lots on LES GIRLS at label.

Monica

Some super black and white shots of our goddess Monica Vitti, by Elisabetta Catalano. I have finally got my hands on that 2011 issue of Italian "Vanity Fair" with 12 pages on Monica, with some terrific photos and comments and features on her, on her then 80th birthday.  There is also now that new Blu-ray of L'AVVENTURA .... Those Antonioni films find new admirers all the time. 
My first appreciation on Monica back in 2010 is at Monica 1 label, got over 2800 views then. She is still a major European star even if she has been silent for some years .....

The landscape and architecture of that face ... and that distinctive voice and sense of fun.
I came across a piece on her by Alan Stanbrook from 1990:
"There are two Monica Vittis: the husky, effervescent comedienne, which is how she sees herself, and the grave, statuesque beauty gazing into a haunted future which is how director Michelangelo Antonioni saw her. They worked together five times, between L'AVVENTURA in 1959 and THE OBERWALD MYSTERY in 1980. A presence more than an actress, Vitti was moulded into a Bernhardt (and the face of European cinema) when she wanted to be a Betty Hutton or Kay Kendall. Humour has surfaced throughout her career, from CHATEAU EN SUEDE to MODESTY BLAISE.. The first film she directed SECRET SCANDAL (unavailable here) is also a comedy. A thick Roman accent denied her an international career, but, with Antonioni, she had more than that: like Jeanne Moreau, hers became the face of our troubled times."  

Two favourites: Lee & Kate

Two of our favourite ladies here are Katharine Hepburn and Lee Remick, and thanks to Daryl for sending me these two stills from their 1973 film A DELICATE BALANCE. I have used them before (see sidebar for that cover of "Films In Review" magazine), but lovely to see them again. 

I never saw Hepburn in person but got to meet Remick in 1970, as detailed before at her label, and also saw her on stage in London in BUS STOP in 1975. 

The story I have told before is that in 1957 when Lee was starting out she was up for the negligible role of one of the office girls in Hepburn's DESK SET with Tracy (the role played by Dina Merrill in the film). Kate advised her to take small parts to get noticed, but Spencer told her to hold out for a better role, which she certainly got in Kazan's A FACE IN THE CROWD that year - what a debut. Five years later of course they are both up for Best Actress in 1962, and a decade later played mother and daughter in the film of Albee's A DELICATE BALANCE, rather ignored at the time, but a real acting treat now.  Paul Scofield is marvellous here too as is Kate Reid, and they do Albee's play justice. Its one of Tony Richardson's better later efforts. (He also directed Lee in the 1961 SANCTUARY, a rare one we tracked down some years ago, as per review).  

"That'll be the day"

A western double bill, for late autumn afternoons. Only the best western ever: John Ford's THE SEARCHERS, and a routine oater from 1949 MASSACRE RIVER, only of interest now for teaming of the young Guy Madison and Rory Calhoun - see previous on them, below, or at labels.

We have written about THE SEARCHERS here before, and my 2010 appreciation on Jeffrey Hunter is at 'Jeff Hunter 1' label. Looking at Ford's classic again (I also have it on Blu-ray, as Martin would say) it is a timeless American Classic and the climax is as emotionally stunning as the end of CITIZEN KANE or CASABLANCA. Maybe they are the Top Three American Movies Of All Time?  Its certainly in my Top 10 (along with my other favourite western JOHNNY GUITAR)

The images and the scenery - did Monument Valley ever look more iconic? - stun one again, as does Ford's narrative, Wayne is superlative, Jeff Hunter has his best ever role as halfbreed Martin Pawley - he and Natalie are so poignant together, a perfect Fifties pair, Vera Miles excels as ever, and grown men cry when Ethan picks up Debbie at the end ....

Ford has some amusement too with Wayne's son Patrick and the regulars are all here from Ward Bond down. The early sequence when the settlers realise that Scar is about to attack is chilling and brilliantly done too, as is the scene where Ethan and Martin meet Debbie again in the wigwam with those scalps. Ford orchestrates it all perfectly, as per previous reports; and of course that line of Wayne's "that'll be the day" which gave Buddy Holly the title of one of his best songs ... Max Steiner's score is one of his most evocative and complements the images perfectly. 
Ethan Edwards is racist towards the Indians and the depiction of them may be problematic for some now, though Ford 'atoned' for that with his CHEYENNE AUTUMN in 1964; the squaw Martin gets married to is despatched rather heartlessly. 

MASSACRE RIVER on the other hand is pure studio dross, but a very rare film. I had ordered the dvd only to see it crop up on our Western channel, otherwise known as TCM uk. This must be where Guy Madison and Rory Calhoun got pally, as per my previous on them, and the various reports on their longtime relationship, despite their marriages, and some scurrilous rumours, but there are lots of photos of them together - just like Cary and Randy. 
They share a tub in this and one can see the chemistry between them. Calhoun was an ex-con who got into the movies, mainly rememered now for his two with Monroe and with Hayward in WITH A SONG IN MY HEART. Madison continued in westerns and dramas - both were filming in Europe by the early Sixties, Calhoun in the rather good COLOSSUS OF RHODES by Sergio Leone, so maybe they were meeting up then too. 

THE SEARCHERS though will live forever. 

Strictly groovy

Daisy and Aljaz may have now left the STRICTLY COME DANCING marathon, but I LOVED their routine last night, a terrific dance - and dig those costumes! - to one of my favourite club classics, "Groove Is In The Heart".   Groovy baby, Their other dances were super too, now on YouTube, 

RIP, continued ...

Leonard Cohen (1934-2016), aged 82, Canadian singer, songwriter, poet, novelist. What a year for music departures, starting with David Bowie back in January, and then Prince and an Eagle - now Leonard Cohen leaves the scene at 82, after - like Bowie - just releasing a late great album "You Want It Darker". I must admit I do not know it yet, but my friend Martin has raved. It will be an essential. 
For me, Cohen is always associated with that late Sixties era, those songs like "So Long Marianne", "Suzanne". "The Sisters of Mercy" etc during that hippie era, and his mournful soundtrack for Altman's McCABE & MRS MILLER in 1971. He of course had that great late renaissance in his Seventies as his work was discovered all over again and his tours were extremely popular. His muse Marianne died some months ago and it was reported Cohen told her he would be following her shortly ... "Dance Me To The End of Love" indeed.

Mose Allison (1927-2016), aged 89. Another music legend departs. Mose was a deeply loved jazz and blues pianist, singer and songwriter, from the Mississippi Delta, a white man who had the blues, I first discovered him as a teenager, with this EP of 6 of his recordings, songs like "Please don't talk about me when I'm Gone", "I don't worry about a thing", "I love the life I live", "The Seventh Son", "Parchman Farm". "Young Man's Blues".  His live recordings capture him perfectly too. 
He was increasingly popular and influential in his old age, doing an annual 3 week residency in London each year, and influencing and being covered by the likes of The Rolling Stones, The Yardbirds, Van Morrison, Georgie Fame, Pete Townshend. He was a social critic before Dylan, and a satirist before Randy Newman. We love Mose. 

Robert Vaughn (1932-2016), aged 83. Prolific American actor, if never quite front-rank. He was the last survivor of THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN, which we loved back in 1960. He co-starred again with Steve McQueen in BULLITT, and other credits included THE TOWERING INFERNO and even a stint on British TV's CORONATION STREET a few years ago, and he made that credible too. He was of course one of THE MEN FROM U.N.C.L.E. for years in the 1960s,and also star of the long running BBC series HUSTLE, and was a very stylish guy. 

Raoul Coutard (1924-2016), aged 92. Legendary French cinematographer who lensed many New Wave classics, including Godard's BREATHLESS, PIERROT LE FOU, UN FEMME EST UNE FEMME, Demy's LOLA, Truffaut's JULES ET JIM etc, He and Henri Decae and Nestor Almendros must have shot all the French classics of the 60s onwards. 

Sir Jimmy Young (1921-2016), aged 95. Another veteran BBC broadcaster departs at a great age. One has to salute his achievements and longevity as one of the longest broadcasting disk jockeys

Strictly, mid-season report ...

We are now halfway through our annual dance fest STRICTLY COME DANCING, and the weaker contestants have been weeded out, so its hotting up as the best couples battle it out. My money from the word go has been on sensational Ore Oduba, whom I barely noticed as a BBC sports reporter, but the guy owns the floor and dances up a storm each week and is compulsively watchable, as is his dance partner Joanne Clifton. She and her brother Kevin (who dances with Louise Redknapp - their Argentine Tango was sensational too last week) will be very competitive to win. so it will be interesting to see how that goes. Judge Rinder and new girl Oksana are super too, but seem lost in the middle. The other great is Danny Mac - I expect him and Ore to battle it out in the final. 
Olympic athlete Greg Rutherford with the divine Natalie 'Legs' Lowe are also making up that top foursome, while the young couple Claudia and AJ are also compulsive. Its all to play for ..... and brightens up our winter weekends, while Claudia, Tess and judge Darcey (the most stylish women on British TV) ramp up the glam stakes. Each week we wonder "what will they be wearing?" ..... 
Ore and Joanne do a divine tribute to SINGIN' IN THE RAIN ...

Italians: Bolognini

So, Bolognini or Bertolucci? No, its not an Italian sauce. We have been liking quite a few Mauro Bolognini Italian flicks of late here at The Projector, as per Bolognini label.

The Italian greats of course are Rossellini and De Sica, followed by the Big Three of the late 50s and early '60s: Antonioni, Fellini and Visconti, followed by Pasolini and Bertolucci. But there were several others prolific in those years, that great LA DOLCE VITA era, such as Bolognini, Monicelli, Germi, Risi, Rosi, Lattuada, while now the new guys like Paolo Sorrentino (THE GREAT BEAUTY, THE YOUNG POPE) and Luca Guadagnino (I AM LOVE, A BIGGER SPLASH) grow in stature. 

Today, lets focus on Mauro Bolognini (1928-2001), rumoured to be gay - he certainly filled his films with attractive people, his best output coming from scripts by Pasolini (as in LA NOTTE BRAVA) or adaptions of novels by Alberto Moravia or Italo Svevo. His 46 credits include these I like:

GIOVANI MARITI (YOUNG HUSBANDS) in 1957, with Gerard Blain, Raf Mattioli, Isabelle Corey, Sylvia Koscina, and Franco Interlenghi. Its as the title implies a drama about young husbands and their marriage problems.

LA NOTTE BRAVA (THE BIG NIGHT, see below) in 1959, glamorises Pasolini's tale of Roman layabouts and petty hoodlums and prostitutes, including the wildly attractive Laurent Terzieff, Jean-Claude Brialy, Tomas Milian, Mylene Demongeot, Antonella Lualdi, Elsa Martinelli etc. It also has a rather gay scene - right. Pasolini took to directing his own scripts after that, such as ACCATONE.

LA GIORNATA BALORDA (FROM A ROMAN BALCONY), a delicious 1960 drama with Jean Sorel and Lea Massari. We reviewed these in full at Bolognini/Italian labels.

SENILITA in 1962, from the Svevo novel, set in 1920s Trieste, with a great performance by Claudia Cardinale as the heartless vamp, and Bestsy Blair as a frustated spinster in love with the wrong man.

LA CURRIZONE (CORRUPTION) in 1963, one of Jacques Perrin's great performances as the son of wealthy industrialist Alain Cuny to uses his mistress Rossano Schiaffino to lure the son into his business plans.

METELLO in 1970 is a great costume period drama with Massimo Ranieri and it looks ravishing in colour,

GRAN BOLLITO is a chiller from 1977, with Shelley Winters as that very over-protective mother who will do anything for her son, including turning the neighbours into bars of soap, as Rita Tushingham finds out. It also has Max Von Sydow in drag as one of the victims. Bizarre is the word.

I haven't seen the acclaimed IL BELL ANTONIO, one of Mastroianni's great performances from 1960. He later did several costume dramas for Italian television: Isabelle Huppert as the LADY OF THE CAMELIAS, and and THE CHARTERHOUSE OF PARMA.

He also did several segments in those Italian '60s episodic films, usually made up of 4 short films by different diretors. He directed the deliciously funny episode in LE BAMBOLE (THE DOLLS) in 1965 where Gina Lollobrigida (above) tries in vain to seduce Jean Sorel (as one would,,,,,), and the Claudia Cardinale segment of THE QUEENS in 1966, the Silvana Mangano episode in THE WITCHES, also '66. Belmondo and Cardinale are both marvellous in LA VIACCIA in '61. A lot of these, like his I TRE VOLTI with Princess Soraya,  did not get wide distribution outside of Italy, so he may be rather unknown to many.
Movie reviews coming up: THE NEON DEMON, NOCTURNAL ANIMALS, PLAN B, some French double bills and features on Catherine Deneuve and Anouk Aimee ...

THE Italian double bill ?

A friend and I were discussing fantasy double bills, here is my Italian choice ... two of our timeless favourites, discussed many times here, as per labels. Rossellini's 1953 classic VOYAGE TO ITALY (below) with Antonioni's L'AVVENTURA. The Rossellini really paved the way for those Antonioni classics. 

Alternatively, for great Fifties Italian cinema: Fellini's 1953 small town drama I VITELLONI twinned with Bolognini's 1959 saga of petty hoodlums and prostitutes, as scripted by Pasolini, but glamorised and how by Bolognini ... LA NOTTE BRAVA. (We are doing a post on Bolognini next ...).

Below: Jean-Claude Brialy and Tomas Milian in a rather steamy scene (for 1959) from LA NOTTE BRAVA. 

For Italian glamour and decadence, one could not beat Bertolucci's THE CONFORMIST with a Visconti: THE LEOPARD or his final masterpiece L'INNOCENTE from 1976.

I would also have to make a dramatic double bill of Wertmuller's 1975 opus SEVEN BEAUTIES, with maybe Vancini's THE LONG NIGHT OF '43 ...  and what about Visconti's SANDRA from 1975, with maybe Antonioni's LE AMICHE ....  endless possibilities. More on all these at Italian labels. French double-bills soon, perhaps.