I could well imagine the centre section of each poster being a paperback cover.
to
Sunday, 12 August 2012
Giallo in the broader sense
Two Italian posters for Agatha Christie adaptations, both making prominent use of yellow and a red circle (or a rote kreis, to mention the title of a krimi).
I could well imagine the centre section of each poster being a paperback cover.
I could well imagine the centre section of each poster being a paperback cover.
Unusual poster
Robert Hampton as an actor, and not an alias for director Riccardo Freda?
Face mirrored on blade more like Four Flies on Grey Velvet?
Saw on Ebay as a poster for The Bird with the Crystal Plumage.
Face mirrored on blade more like Four Flies on Grey Velvet?
Saw on Ebay as a poster for The Bird with the Crystal Plumage.
Carlo Rambaldi RIP
Carlo Rambaldi, the special effects expert who is most famous for creating ET, but who also worked with Argento in Deep Red and Fulci in A Lizard in a Woman's Skin amongst others has died.
My favourite example of his work comes from the Fulci film, in the form of the Francis Bacon-style vivisected dogs. Rambaldi and Fulci reputedly had to produce the effect in court to show that they had not used real animals.
My favourite example of his work comes from the Fulci film, in the form of the Francis Bacon-style vivisected dogs. Rambaldi and Fulci reputedly had to produce the effect in court to show that they had not used real animals.
Friday, 3 August 2012
Wednesday, 25 July 2012
Alice Sweet Alice
Can anyone out there advise on which is the best version of Alice Sweet Alice AKA Communion on DVD? I am not bothered about extras, such as trailers or a commentary.
TIA.
TIA.
Sunday, 22 July 2012
Deaths...
Not a good time to be a Hammer fan, with Angharad Rees of Hands of the Ripper and Simon Ward of Frankenstein Must be Destroyed both dying in the same week. Next issue of Little Shoppe of Horrors looks likely to be a sad one...
Wednesday, 18 July 2012
Afyon oppio / The Sicilian Connection
Though obviously inspired by The French Connection and The Godfather this 1972 crime film also strongly recalls Machine Gun McCain. The reason for this is the presence of one of McCain star John Cassavetes frequent collaborators, Ben Gazzara.
The film opens with a Sicilian funeral. A local policeman interrupts the proceedings, requesting to see the paperwork for the deceased, whose body has been brought home from Turkey. He then asks for the coffin to be opened, and discovers that the corpse’s stomach has been cut open and packed with drugs. This leads to the policeman suffering the horridying fate of being buried alive alongside the corpse by the mobsters. (One thing that isn’t explained is what happens to the drugs, since we don’t see them being removed before the burial.)
It’s a powerful scene and one which subsequent ones generally do not match up to. An exception is some fascinating documentary-style footage of heroin production in rural Turkey.
Before we get to this point, however, the filmmakers introduce Gazzara’s character and the narrative in which he is at the centre. Gazzara plays a would-be big shot from New York, Joseph Coppola (note the surname), who has come to Turkey with the intention of masterminding a heroin deal that will take the drugs to Sicily, then Marseilles, then New York.
With each new encounter, however, Joseph, finds himself being forced to take a smaller and smaller cut of the deal. Things get worse as the consignment nears New York, as an old enemy seeks to cut him out entirely.
Gazzara gives a good performance, albeit as a character who is not particularly likeable. While the same could be said of the Corleone family in The Godfather we also have a sense of why they do what they do, along with indications their enemies are worse. Likewise though Popeye Doyle is an unpleasant racist we understand this to be part of a more complex, rounded character.
It is true that the final reversal(s) re-contextualise what has gone before, but they come too little too late and still don’t give us much insight into Joseph’s motivations.
On the plus side the film also features plenty of familiar Eurocrime favourites, including Luciano Rossi, Teodoro Corra, John Bartha and, most notably, Luciano Catenacci as a colleague of Joseph’s. Interestingly Catenacci also has a production role, recalling Kill Baby Kill. In this regard, the film also benefits from good use of its locations.
Ferdinando Baldi's direction is decent, but not particularly memorable.
Not the best, nor the worst Italian crime film I've seen.
The film opens with a Sicilian funeral. A local policeman interrupts the proceedings, requesting to see the paperwork for the deceased, whose body has been brought home from Turkey. He then asks for the coffin to be opened, and discovers that the corpse’s stomach has been cut open and packed with drugs. This leads to the policeman suffering the horridying fate of being buried alive alongside the corpse by the mobsters. (One thing that isn’t explained is what happens to the drugs, since we don’t see them being removed before the burial.)
It’s a powerful scene and one which subsequent ones generally do not match up to. An exception is some fascinating documentary-style footage of heroin production in rural Turkey.
Before we get to this point, however, the filmmakers introduce Gazzara’s character and the narrative in which he is at the centre. Gazzara plays a would-be big shot from New York, Joseph Coppola (note the surname), who has come to Turkey with the intention of masterminding a heroin deal that will take the drugs to Sicily, then Marseilles, then New York.
With each new encounter, however, Joseph, finds himself being forced to take a smaller and smaller cut of the deal. Things get worse as the consignment nears New York, as an old enemy seeks to cut him out entirely.
Gazzara gives a good performance, albeit as a character who is not particularly likeable. While the same could be said of the Corleone family in The Godfather we also have a sense of why they do what they do, along with indications their enemies are worse. Likewise though Popeye Doyle is an unpleasant racist we understand this to be part of a more complex, rounded character.
It is true that the final reversal(s) re-contextualise what has gone before, but they come too little too late and still don’t give us much insight into Joseph’s motivations.
On the plus side the film also features plenty of familiar Eurocrime favourites, including Luciano Rossi, Teodoro Corra, John Bartha and, most notably, Luciano Catenacci as a colleague of Joseph’s. Interestingly Catenacci also has a production role, recalling Kill Baby Kill. In this regard, the film also benefits from good use of its locations.
Ferdinando Baldi's direction is decent, but not particularly memorable.
Not the best, nor the worst Italian crime film I've seen.
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