Mora!

At the risk of appearing to be the ultimate coattail riding blogger on the scene, I want to add my own little two-cents worth to the Curtis Harrington bit as there is an interesting point about film posters and marketing involving one of his films. I mean, I find it interesting anyway. ZZZZzzzz.....


So, when it came to selling Harrington's 1961 movie, Night Tide, the studio faced the, possibly profitable, fact that they would potentially be dealing with two distinct groups of moviegoers. First there would be the standard types who go to see supernatural thrillers/horrors and such and they could well be approached with a nice, garish poster promising thrills of their type as seen by the 'style A' one sheet here.





The other realistic faction of fans for the film would be those that had followed his earlier, more artsy work and his associations with Kenneth Anger and the movie-worlds' more avant-garde group of filmmakers. They were heralded into their cozy little arthouses with the much more beautiful and chilling 'style B' that we see here. A poster, I must add, that is much rarer (as well as just plain strikingly designed) than the alphabetically earlier style and therefore highly coveted in the collecting world and I was much pleased when I finally acquired mine for a reasonable sum. And it's mint, y'all.





Now, wasn't that a fascinating look into how movie advertising is created and stuff? I couldn't agree more.

Curtis Harrington RIP

From a friend of the blog, Dennis Bartok (a man whose wedding guest list included: noir actress Ann Savage, Max Rosenberg, producer of DR. TERROR'S HOUSE OF HORRORS, distributor Harry Novak (MANTIS IN LACE), actors Frederic Forrest (APOCALYPSE NOW), directors Richard Fleisher, Werner Herzog, Andre De Toth (HOUSE OF WAX!!!), Curtis Harrington, Monte Hellman, Joe Dante, Adam Rifkin, Val Guest and film critic Leonard Maltin), comes this reflection on the passing of Curtis Harrington this past May:

As many of you may have already heard, director Curtis Harrington passed away on Sunday at his home in the Hollywood Hills. Although Curtis had no children of his own, his extended “family” included dozens and dozens of filmmakers, authors, movie buffs, dancers, actors and just plain fascinating people who converged on his house at irregular intervals for one of Curtis’s famous salon-like parties. Curtis was an astonishingly sweet man – this may sound strange describing the director of such macabre treasures as NIGHT TIDE, GAMES, WHAT’S THE MATTER WITH HELEN? And THE KILLING KIND – but it’s true. There was a wonderful elegance and generosity of spirit about him – and also a wicked sense of humor and the absurd. Like his own home, his movies were filled with odd bric-a-brac (the severed hand in a jar in NIGHT TIDE, the sinister amusement machines in GAMES) and wonderful, eccentric characters – who could forget the surreal sight of dozens of little moppets training to be the next Shirley Temple in WHAT’S THE MATTER WITH HELEN?, or the great Agnes Moorehead as an evangelist in the same film. (Curtis’s parents had gone to see the real Sister Aimee back in L.A. in the 1930’s, and he loved repeating her famous admonition to her faithful: “I don’t want to hear the clink of coins – I only want to hear the rustle of DOLLAR BILLS - !”)


Curtis was a true lover of Los Angeles and a brilliant chronicler of its beauties and frailties, from his early experimental shorts such as the exquisite “Fragment of Seeking,” through the melancholy side-shows and desolate beaches of NIGHT TIDE, and on to the seedy Hollywood underbelly of HELEN?, surely one of the darkest portraits of this town ever put on film. Even his final film, USHER – with the unforgettable image of Curtis in drag as Madeline Usher (!) – is a twisted love letter of sorts to L.A.: it was filmed at Curtis’s house, and evokes a kind of “hidden strangeness” lurking behind the facades of those vine-covered Hollywood mansions. Curtis was a sweet man but he was also unflinchingly honest, in person and on film: he may have sympathy for Ann Sothern’s tyrannical mom in KILLING KIND, or Shelley Winters’s hopeless, pathetic Helen Hill in HELEN? – but he understands that they’re monsters, true monsters of a very human kind, and that’s part of what makes them so haunting.



Curtis was a devoted film-lover and movie-goer, endlessly curious about what other filmmakers were doing here and around the world. He was a familiar sight at screenings at the American Cinematheque, UCLA Film & TV Archive, the NuArt and many other venues around town. He also took great pride in his work as a film scholar and writer in the 1950’s: he wrote some of the first serious articles on James Whale, director of BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN, and became Whale’s friend and supporter at a time when the great director was almost completely forgotten by the industry. Curtis was instrumental in helping to save one of Whale’s finest films, THE OLD DARK HOUSE, from being lost forever: he discovered that there was one decent lavender print of the film, neglected and forgotten, and insisted that protection copies of it be made and sent to several archives. He also remembered and mourned the movies he’d seen in his younger days that are now vanished: Curtis wrote the first monograph on the films of Josef von Sternberg, and clearly recalled seeing a now-lost film of his, probably THE CASE OF LENA SMITH, in a nitrate print at Paramount in the late 1940’s.

Curtis and I had lunch a few months ago on the Sunset Strip. We sat there, surrounded by beautiful young things in insect-shades and artfully-ripped jeans – today’s equivalent of the Shirley Temple wanna-bes in HELEN?, I guess – and Curtis shared stories of old Hollywood … Of his friend Jean Howard, ex-wife of Charlie Feldman and thrower of fabulous parties in the 1940’s and 50’s… Of visiting Marlene Dietrich in Vegas after her cabaret act (he’d desperately wanted Dietrich for GAMES but the head of Universal replied “Dietrich?? Nobody remembers her!” and insisted he hire Simone Signoret instead … And then the conversation side-tracked to Signoret, who Curtis had invited to a screening of TERROR AT TINY TOWN – she stood up halfway through the movie and launched into a Leftist tirade about the exploitation of the midgets in the movie and then stormed out … That was how it was talking with Curtis: so many stories, so many hidden doorways with wonderful, eccentric people behind them.

We love you and we’ll miss you, Curtis.

lets get back on track...

What does Global's tv programming have to do with paying the rent on this rundown little light box? Now advertising a "Female Explosion" will get them lined up around the block! And check out the "video tape" action that Cinema 2000 has got going on! And they somehow bypassed the Ontario Censor Board! (From Toronto, circa 1975)

Night Walk

Back in the eighties, the Global Television Network had an ingenious idea to run 24 hour programming that wasn't an all-night Christian call-in show or a series of infomercials (that would come later), while also saving money on syndication acquisitions. They ran a three hour block of programs called Night Walk, Night Ride and Night Moves - super smooth Clint Eastwood-end-credits jazz (but Canadian! Featuring Guido Basso!) playing over steadicam footage of the empty Toronto streets. When we all saw it for the first time we were at a party - we were convinced it was airing live and were trying to pinpoint their coordinates and general direction so as to jump in a cab and intercept the broadcast.

Night Moves was by my recall the more experimental of the three but only visually; sometimes there they would show the footage in slow motion or backwards. Either that or I was hammered every time I came home and flipped it on.

There was only one episode of each and Global ran them all night every night well into the nineties. To see it again now is to get even more bitter about the continuing Fifth-Elementization of downtown. We had it good....

Greenwood, you in particular are going to lose your shit on this one - you will want them to invent that Brainstorm machine pronto. This clip has been specially edited to highlight record store row. And Tough Enough at the Rio!

Be Afraid of The Dark

It's that scary-trailer-voice-guy from the seventies! It's William Devane slouched in a Corvette looking like Michael Douglas and talking like Willem Dafoe! It's lasers coming out of eyeballs! It's... The Dark (1979)!

More dusty old things to keep

And just to update again on the demise of the institution I love. Oddly, last Saturday after posting here, I went for a quick bike ride and then remembered that I had received a message that the library had been given some of the 'types of films you like' and that I was to jump in a grab what I wanted before the unwashed masses could sticky them up. This means film films and this batch were on 8 mm and it's hard to discern just what they are but they look like the belongings of an oldies fan. Something about Chaplin, Pickford and Laurel & Hardy as well as one that has the label designated as 150th Anniversary of Steam, Grand Prix and British Monaco South Africa. So, who knows?

But the real baby and piece that made me wonder in a drifty way for a second (the one librarian's daughter giving smiles in big sunglasses helped) was this box of audio tape which I quickly secured and pushed into the 'take' pile.





It's so old it has the original telephone exchange! Anyway, it made my day and I have no way of knowing if it is blank or what the deal is. The leader bears no markings and there is the handwritten word 'French' inside the box. C'est la vie.

There's A Rainbow In Toronto....

It's not Goin' Down The Road, but it's pretty close. Presenting Sam's in all its glory, as seen on SCTV!

Bonus beats: The RIO!

Take Me To Cheerleader

It's The Pom Pom Girls!

Beetlejuice as directed by Dario Argento?

Ran into this clip from the 1977 Japanese horror film HOUSE (aka HAUSU) over at WFMU's Beware of the Blog.

i need a nurse

when the promise of "a nightmare of living hell and torment" was all you needed to lure people into a cinema...

A requiem

By now, all those in the Toronto area have heard the (depending on where you feel from) terrible news that the long-standing Yonge Street fixture of neon and Canadianism, Sam The Record Man, will be closing at the end of June due to ongoing financial crises not limited to just online shopping.

I'll take my chances being off topic here but as a music nut who loves movies, I have to affix the same emotions to this building as those who knew so well all the way-gone cinemas of Toronto's yesterday. Trips downtown from out-of-town and just downtown when living there were always, at some point, moved to the confines of the store as well as Cheapies, which we hit through high school because they had the best prices. Back when local townie Dave Holden worked at Sam's on Saturdays (free tickets to the Dead Milkmen!) and the walls and ceiling were covered with the autographs and 8 X 10s of the famous and briefly known. The original skinny store (before the sideways growth) and the chief competition (A & A) right next door with an equally cool frontage. Those were the days, my friend. Gavin and I could hop down, grab a cocktail, do a quick Lenny and Squiggy to passing treats and I could get some records at either, although I sometimes favoured the latter due to Nadine giving me staff prices. Apart from the other lesser sellers on the strip, you could hit Sam's and A & A and Record Peddler (Carlton or Yonge...even Queen East, if you hustled) all within a good forty-five minutes to an hour or so of shopping on foot! And that included a brief jump into Flash Jack's as well! When I took the bus back and forth, it was always there for a casual pre or post-ride browse (and normally a buy) along with the World's Biggest Book Store. I even found some stuff there that was basically out of print but still in the bin. Hello Scott Walker's 'Climate Of Hunter' and the 'Cookie Puss' cd single! Also, I don't think there are many who carry and champion such items as Glenn Gould's Solitude Trilogy which I happily bought at Sam's in a well stocked Gould bin.



I watched the rapid growth of the compact disc via Sam's. The removal of the opening space of racks of vinyl and the bins. The difficulty in getting anything on record seemingly instant, although it did take a couple years, and my willingness to adapt and then my eventual return to my vinyl first love years later. And I guess I am partly to blame with my widening and more obscure tastes leading me away from downtown, commercial sellers and into the indies in the neighbourhoods where I troll and online where it was all ready to be shipped if you could beat/stand customs.

Sam Sniderman was a tireless supporter of Canadian artists and afforded them the luxury of being on display alongside the bigger and better selling international stars of any era, but especially in the 60s and 70s, I believe. For that reason alone, I was a stalwart supporter of the shop and would spend more on something at Sam's rather than buy at HMV in the same way that I tend to disregard big stores on any and all possible occasions and support the heart of retail instead. Plus, Sam's staff tended to be cooler. The hipsters worked elsewhere and some knowledge walked the floor at 347 Yonge. Don't get me wrong, there were good staff at other places too, but I was built-in ready to find fault there. He also had a large part in helping develop Canadian Content regulations but this is a tough one to champion, depending on your feelings. Yes, it gets Canadian artists on the radio and helps stem the tide of American cultural smothering but it also tends to help those that help bigger companies make money and that is why I change the station when I hear another goddamned Guess Who song or whatever and rarely got to listen to the Rheostatics or Change Of Heart or any similarly minded bands of today on commerical radio although CFNY was as close as we could get back in the early days of Brampton. The oldies format and CanCon does have it's payoffs in the Poppy Family, Rush and Pagliaro though.

With my ever-growing deposits of sickly sentimentalism on board, I am not looking forward to my final walk in and out of the store and the removal of it's sign (cliche, I know but a big deal here) from the strip that I disregard so much these days. It is going to be very, very sad for the music lover in me who always left that shop happy whether armed with records or not. How could you not?

I left my Tate out in the snow...

A few more of pics of Sharon Tate can be found over at the The Percy Trout Hour, a constant source for whimsical amusement.

From C to C

Some bloggers go all high falutin' and travel abroad to exotic locales to rub shoulders with the glamourous and perverted, throbbing throngs of celebrity. They squint in the reflection of Angelina's smile and stuff. Others borrow a car and drive the 8 hours to just a little north of Columbus, Ohio for the 39th Cinevent festival and celebration of silent film. There is also a dealer's room which consists of all the paper sellers (and the buyers that they attract) that you'd mostly want to know, if you really wanted to know any. This list includes Dan from L.A. who may be the coolest dealer around. I once heard a rumour that he dated Mary Woronov so you know what level of cool we're on here. We touched base about the trade we did last year that is near to final with the mailing of a nice, big burlesque piece to Canada about to happen any near day and I made a deal to grab a few more of his pieces now that he's closed the gallery and everything is going at 50% off. There could be Japanese two panels for both 'Pretty Poison' and 'I Am Curious Yellow'(psychedelic!) coming my way as well as assorted stuff. Good!

Some bloggers saw Beau Geste from 1926 and Loose Ankles from 1930 which stars the strikingly beautiful and lithe Loretta Young. Actually, all the actresses from back then were lovely in the most wonderful of ways, I find. 1929's 'The River' is rare and it's missing the first and final reel. This is before Grindhouse, folks. But it was still a good exisiting reel and the place was packed! 1926's 'The Winning of Barabara Worth' was the favourie and the W.C. Field's piece, 'Running Wild', from 1927 was easily the most tedious. This one would have been better, I suspect...




And as for bumping up against the famous and monied, who needs that shit?! Directly behind me at the WC screening was none other than Toby Radloff himself. I also stood with him while he picked out a projector bulb for a friend. A film loving friend. A true fan and seemingly real nice guy who didn't stay for the Bulldog Drummond feature (nor did I) and instead went to his room after first discussing options with his pal.

yes, i live in the past. its just better that way

I would be simply camp out at this cinema if it was still around today with this programming... (courtesy of Flickhead - click on image to see them larger)

summer nights are back at last...

What a sight! From a lengthy post on drive-ins over at Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule.

1969

Christploitation

From Heartland Productions...

Questions

This is just too sublime. Almost too good to be true and as fine a trailer as you're likely to find. Someone needs to see the film again and soon.

getting ready for the Riviera...

The countdown is on. On Tuesday I hop on a jet from Amsterdam to Nice and make my way to Cannes...



Robert Mitchum pleads the physical equivalent to the fifth as actress Simone Sylva prays that this publicity play will launch her career. (from Variety)

you know when you are in europe when...

Sitting at a local bar - very local with no drunk Brit toturists for blocks - the young female film maker that you are introduced to starts to tell you about meeting Tinto Brass at a fest in Greece and how lovely he was and describes several of his fims to you in modest detail... (memo to Phanta-Scope board: maybe we should change that Dino membership back to the Tinto Brass...)

Just stumbled across an entry in the blog of the king of UK horror film journalists, Alan Jones, about his recording commentary on CALIGULA with Dame Helen Mirren: "At one point, covered her eyes during the head-severing torture machine scene in the gladiatorial arena."

From "FRIVOLOUS LOLA"- ironically this film was playing in the market the first time I attended Cannes in 1998 and I so wanted to see it, but was turned away for not having the right badge...



And here is an Italian interview with The Maestro...

One Two Three!

I have a soft spot for

a) films that take place in the subway
b) heist pictures
c) seventies films about New York City
d) films where Robert Shaw is up to no good
e) movies with David Shire soundtracks (All The President's Men, The Conversation, Zodiac)
f) movies where Walter Matthau comes to the rescue

Here's the trailer for a film that has it all - The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974)!

The Grasshopper

"Today's child sheds no tears, has no regrets, knows no tomorrows. Today's child is Christine."








Last night I finally got a chance to see one of my cinematic Great White Whales; The Grasshopper, from 1970, with Jacqueline Bisset as Christine, a beautiful 19-year-old (from British Columbia!) who heads down to Los Angeles for love but who winds up a burned out Las Vegas prostitute at age 22.

It's like a clueless Hollywood version of Midnight Cowboy (Midnight Cowgirl?), with amazing dialogue written by Jerry (Smile) Belson and the one and only Garry Marshall (which may explain why practically every man in the film talks like Garry Marshall) that tries desperately to be "with-it", documentary footage that almost seems like the filmmakers were denied permits to film their own movie (several Vegas showgirl numbers are covered from afar and at bad angles that must have been deliberately so), and bursts of montage, several of them breathtaking. The storytelling towards the end mirrors the unraveling state of the protagonist's mind, rendered in dissolves and blackouts that increase in intensity with every bad decision she takes. By the end, when she hijacks a biplane and forces the pilot to write obscenities in the sky, you almost have to pinch yourself that you haven't fallen asleep and are now having a nightmare about the movie.

The resemblance to Verhoeven's Showgirls is uncanny, right down to a shocking rape sequence that comes out of nowhere and is guaranteed to bring the most rollicking room to a sickened hush.

So Warner Brothers, how come a movie featuring a young Jacqueline Bisset in various states of undress, written by the director of Pretty Woman, isn't on DVD yet, not even as a curiosity piece? You own the rights.

I'd buy one!

Saturday is David Friedman Day!

At least until I go to Inland Empire at 9:30.


There was never a better adman in the history of film posterdom. Friedman's taglines are legendary and the man himself so interesting that there really should be a holiday given to celebrate somebody who moved so easily through all the 'important' genres while establishing/inventing many and leaving an impression that can never be ignored. He truly is larger than life and our world owes him so much love.


1961


1965


1967



1977.

Friday is David Lynch Day!

At least for Colin it is.


Nate & Matt meet David Lynch (and a cow)



David on Product Placement...



David on Jay Leno for the TV show ON THE AIR...



David Lynch on 9/11...



David's Public Service Announcement...



David's French cigarette ad...



David's car ad...



David's Play Station ads...

Morricone Goes Pop!

This is a clash of the titans! Which of these singers can belt out the best version of what must be an incredibly difficult song to sing: Ennio Morricone's epic 'Se Telefonando'?

I quite like this version by Iva Zanicchi I just stumbled upon in the interwoods. She is bringing it here, but it's a clear challenge for her.


Françoise Hardy does a very nice, more Phil Spector-ish version called 'Je Changerais D'Avis' - it was this version I heard first. Sorry, everyone in love with her - I only have rotting fruit for you this time.


But the best has to be this one - the original, by Mina! I believe Ennio himself orchestrated it.

Commedia 1973

Not Only, But Also

Steve Coogan's "Lesbian Vampire Lovers of Lust"

Just found this on YouTube. Dr. Terrible's House of Horrible????? Got to get this!

"Steve Coogan parody of lesbian vampire movies, with Coogan and Sally Bretton as newlyweds invited to stay at the castle of lustful Countess Kronsteen (Ronni Ancona, having a blast!) From Coogan's comedy-horror tv series, Dr. Terrible's House of Horrible, Episode: "Lesbian Vampire Lovers of Lust"

And the original trailer for THE VAMPIRE LOVERS:

Maggie Thatcher vs THE LEGEND OF THE HELL HOUSE

Not big screen, but rather small screen from the UK...

Hitchin' A Ride

Hitch-Hike, also known as Autoroute Rosso Sangue (1977)!