The House That Screamed… “Murder!”

by Kimberly Lindbergs | October 6, 2011

Categories | Movie Reviews, Actors, Horror, Spanish Cinema, Thrillers, Gay Interest

Mod Macabre continues over at The Movie Morlocks today where I take a look at Narciso Ibáñez Serrador’s horrific thriller The House That Screamed (1969) featuring a great cast that includes Lilli Palmer, Cristina Galbo, Mary Maude and mod wonder boy, John-Moulder Brown. Here’s a brief description of The House That Screamed from my post:

“THE HOUSE THAT SCREAMED takes place at an isolated boarding school where troubled young women are being taught by a sadistic headmistress called Madame Fourneau (Lilli Palmer) who enjoys disciplining her female students with a whip followed by a tender kiss. After an attractive young French girl named Theresa (Cristina Galbó) enrolls and is given a tour of the grounds, it quickly becomes apparent that something odd is going on at the school. Unseen eyes seem to follow Teresa’s every move and the tense atmosphere is punctuated by the headmistress’s cursory behavior. The other young women at the school immediately take an interest in Teresa and she becomes an object of adoration and scorn for one particular student by the name of Irene (Mary Maude). Irene is Madame Fourneau’s right-hand girl and she enjoys helping the headmistress discipline ill-behaved girls. Adding to the tension is the addition of Madame Fourneau’s handsome son, Louis (John Moulder-Brown) who is kept at the school due to his poor health. His mother insists on isolating him from the young women who she feels aren’t “good enough” for him. The headmistress wants her son to meet someone like herself who will look after him and keep him safe but Louis isn’t interested in following her advice. It soon becomes apparent that he’s been spying on the girls at the school as well as starting up relationships with a few them. So when an unknown killer begins stalking the students it’s easy to assume that Louis might be the murderer but he’s not the only suspect. There’s the lurking gardener (Vic Israel) who seems to also enjoy spying on the students and of course the headmistress herself comes under scrutiny along with the cruel Irene. Director and co-writer Narciso Ibáñez Serrador keeps the audience guessing until the film’s final moments and the plot’s unpredictable twists and turns should surprise many viewers.”

Pictured: Teresa Hurtado and John-Moulder Brown (1969)

To read more just follow the link:
- The House That Screamed… “Murder!” @ TCM’s Classic Movie Blog

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Something Is Always Left Behind

by Kimberly Lindbergs | September 22, 2011

Categories | Movie Reviews, Horror, British Cinema, Alfred Hitchcock, Movie Morlocks, TCM, Dennis Price

Images from A Place of One’s Own (1945)

Summer officially makes way for autumn this week and in celebration of my favorite season I decided to write about the classic supernatural thriller A PLACE OF ONE’S OWN (1945) at the Movie Morlocks. This unusual British film was directed by Alfred Hitchcock’s cinematographer Bernard Knowles and features an exceptional performance from Margaret Lockwood as a young woman haunted by ghosts. It also features one of my favorite horror film regulars, a very young & handsome Dennis Price (THE EARTH DIES SCREAMING; 1964, VENUS IN FURS; 1969, THE HORROR OF FRANKENSTEIN; 1970, TWINS OF EVIL; 1971, VAMPYROS LESBOS; 1971, THE EROTIC RITES OF FRANKENSTEIN; 1972 and THEATER OF BLOOD; 1973), in his first thriller as well as James Mason. You can read more about A PLACE OF ONE’S OWN if you follow the link below.

- Something Is Always Left Behind @ TCM’s Classic Movie Blog

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EVERYTHING GOES WRONG (1960)

by Kimberly Lindbergs | September 20, 2011

Categories | Movie Reviews, Japanese Cinema, Seijun Suzuki, Criterion, TCM

Images from Seijun Suzuki’s Everything Goes Wrong (1960)

Last week I shared some of my thoughts about Seijun Suzuki’s excellent neo-noir melodrama Everything Goes Wrong (1960) over at the Movie Morlocks. It’s one of Suzuki’s early films that isn’t available on DVD in the US yet but you can currently watch it at Hulu.com if you’re a member. Criterion has made an exclusive deal with Hulu, which allows them to stream many Criterion releases and other hard-to-see films that haven’t been released yet. I’m giving their 7-day trial membership a run and so far I’ve enjoyed using Hulu but between my cable TV bill , Amazon & Netflix accounts I don’t know if I can manage the extra expense at the moment. You can read more about Suzuki’s film and my experience with Hulu by following the link below.

- Seijun Suzuki’s EVERYTHING GOES WRONG (1960) @ TCM’s Classic Movie Blog

I’ve also created a Flickr Gallery of images from the film that you can find here.

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Reinventing Lolita

by Kimberly Lindbergs | September 8, 2011

Categories | Movie Reviews, Giallo, Actresses, Science Fiction, Spanish Cinema, Gay Interest, Movie Morlocks, TCM, Stanley Kubrick

Top: Sue Lyon in Murder in a Blue World (1973)
Bottom: Sue Lyon in Lolita (1961)

From my latest post at The Movie Morlocks:

One of the most iconic images to emerge from the cinema in the 1960s is the figure of a young Sue Lyon, peering over her sunglasses at a leering James Mason in Stanley Kubrick’s LOLITA (1961). And I’m definitely not alone in my view. The Spanish genre director Eloy de la Iglesia must have agreed with me when he decided to cast Sue Lyon in his intriguing futuristic thriller, MURDER IN A BLUE WORLD (aka CLOCKWORK TERROR; 1973). Eloy de la Iglesia’s film has often been labeled a low-budget and poorly constructed Spanish knock-off of Stanley Kubrick’s A CLOCKWORK ORANGE (1971) and it’s easy to understand why. But its meta-referencing goes way beyond A CLOCKWORK ORANGE and tips its hat in equal measure to Kubrick’s LOLITA. In fact, MURDER IN A BLUE WORLD is really an homage to Kubrick himself and possibly one of the most interesting films released in Spain during the early ‘70s.

If you’d like to read more about Sue Lyon in Eloy de la Iglesia’s MURDER IN A BLUE WORLD please follow the link:
- Reinventing Lolita in MURDER IN A BLUE WORLD (1973) @ TCM’s Classic Movie Blog

I’ve also compiled a Flickr gallery of images from the film that you can find here.

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Celebrity Vinyl

by Kimberly Lindbergs | September 1, 2011

Categories | Movie Reviews, Books, Actors, Actresses, David Hemmings, Richard Harris, Anthony Perkins, Brigitte Bardot, Dirk Bogarde

My latest post at TCM’s Movie Morlocks takes a look at some of my favorite celebrity albums recorded by classic film stars. Did you know Robert Mitchum recorded a calypso album? Have you ever heard Eddie Albert sing a Bob Dylan song? Or listened to Dirk Bogarde talk his way through “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes”? These are just a few of the celebrity albums you’ll find if you make your way over to the Movie Morlocks!

- Celebrity Vinyl: Classic Actors Sing @ TCM’s Classic Movie Blog

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Velvet Goldmine: Celluloid Pictures of Living

by Kimberly Lindbergs | August 30, 2011

Categories | Movie Reviews, Musicals, Modern Mondays, Gay Interest

“Histories, like ancient ruins, are the fictions of empire. While everything forgotten hangs in dark dreams of the past, ever threatening to return.”
- from Velvet Goldmine (1998)

When Velvet Goldmine was originally released in 1998 it confused and frustrated a lot of critics who were turned off by its uninhibited style, hyper editing, abundant close-ups and nonlinear narrative structure. They also bemoaned the film’s playful take on musicals and biopics. This glam infused Citizen Kane homage didn’t appeal to a ‘90s audience hooked on grunge rock. Ticket sales plummeted as many critics and the general public turned their backs on Velvet Goldmine but I embraced Haynes’ film. I had become familiar with Haynes work in the early ’90s after seeing Poison (1991) on video followed by Safe (1995) during its initial theatrical release but Velvet Goldmine turned me into a lifelong Todd Haynes’ fan.

As someone who came of age in the ‘70s and later bummed around in various bands as a keyboardist during the ’80s while struggling to find work as a music journalist, I immediately formed a deep kinship with the film’s main protagonist, Arthur (Christian Bale). Like Arthur, I went down the rabbit hole and managed to come out the other side but I’m also a little worse for wear. An unrestricted look deep inside the bowels of the music industry took a lot of the sparkle off the blinding light of celebrity. Watching Arthur transform from a spotty adolescent kid seduced by the power of music into a jaded adult trying to sort out his past is all too familiar to me and Bale makes his character’s journey a convincing one.

“Meaning is not in things but in between them.” - from Velvet Goldmine

I also appreciate the way director Todd Haynes captured the downright dirty and dangerous side of rock ‘n’ roll. As a gay artist, Haynes knows what’s it’s like to be a real outsider and he understands the appeal of beautiful boys who are willing to bare all on stage while they exploit our deepest desires and fears. Unlike Cameron Crowe’s godawful Almost Famous (2000), which offered viewers an “insiders” look at the life of a young “rock journalist” but is completely devoid of passion and creativity, Haynes’ film gives us a journalist’s romanticized fantasy populated by the shadows of ’70s pop idols like David Bowie, Iggy Pop, Lou Reed, Marc Bolan and Bryan Ferry that’s much more imaginative and heartfelt than the incredibly benign and dreadfully dull Almost Famous. Velvet Goldmine works because all the talented performers involved (Christian Bale, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Ewan McGregor, Toni Collette, Eddie Izzard, Micko Westmoreland, etc.) fully embrace the glamorous world they’re inhabiting and give 100% to their roles. And Haynes’ kinetic directing style also gives the film a real energy that should be a prerequisite when you’re making a film about the power of music. Naturally critics loved Crowe’s Almost Famous, which has currently earned a whopping 88% of “like” votes at Rotten Tomatoes while Haynes’ Velvet Goldmine languishes at 55%. It’s a sad reminder of how conservative and conventional film criticism was 10 years ago. Thankfully the predictability of film criticism seems to be slowly changing and that’s partially due to the onslaught of film blogs and film sites that are willing to champion lesser seen or forgotten movies that are often overlooked by mainstream critics. And speaking of Velvet Goldmine and alternative film sites …

I recently had the opportunity to write a little tribute to Velvet Goldmine for Fandor. Fandor is an online movie service devoted to independent films where you can watch award-winning titles, festival favorites, and international gems. If you have eclectic film tastes and are looking for an alternative to Netflix I highly recommend giving Fandor a try. Fandor also publishes articles and news features about the films they program on their Keyframe blog. Earlier this month, the editors of Fandor asked a group of writers to contribute a brief piece about a film that portrays a “vanishing way of life.” I decided to share some thoughts about Velvet Goldmine. It might seem like an odd choice and I suppose it was but I had just seen the film again recently so it was fresh in my mind and I wanted an excuse to write about it. Hopefully I’ll find the time to write a longer piece about the film someday since there’s much more I’d like to say about Velvet Goldmine but here’s a little snippet from my Fandor contribution:

“Todd Haynes‘ Velvet Goldmine is a love letter to a rock ‘n’ roll past that is often more fiction than fact, because the history of rock simply can’t be written. It’s told in tall tales exchanged in smoky bars where the drinks are poured generously and the music is so loud that you can’t hear what anyone is actually saying. Haynes knows this but he also wants us to believe that rock ‘n’ roll once had the power to change the world, or at the very least, it could transform the inner world of one teenage boy.”

You’ll find my full piece along with the others at the Fandor.com site:
- Last Picture Shows: Essential Films About Vanishing Ways of Life

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Sean Connery in Woman of Straw (1964)

by Kimberly Lindbergs | August 25, 2011

Categories | Movie Reviews, Thrillers, Movie Morlocks, TCM, Sean Connery

Sean Connery in a promotional shot from WOMAN OF STRAW (1964)

I’m celebrating Sean Connery’s 81st birthday today over at the Movie Morlocks with a look at his performance in WOMAN OF STRAW (1964). A brief excerpt from my post:

“What I admire most about Connery’s memorable performance in WOMAN OF STRAW is the way he underplays his character early in the film before transforming into a murderous monster. Connery had just finished starring in his second James Bond film, FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE (1963), and he was riding high on his success and sudden superstardom. But he was worried about being typecast as the suave and handsome spy so he jumped at the chance to play the ruthless Anthony in WOMAN OF STRAW. In the film, Connery uses his sex appeal to lure Gina Lollobridigida’s character into complacency while convincing the audience that he’s worthy of their sympathy. It’s a difficult trick to manage but Connery has rarely looked as handsome as he does in this film and his masculine confidence is disarming.”

Follow the link to read more:
- Sean Connery in WOMAN OF STRAW (1964) @ TCM’s Classic Movie Blog

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A Joan Blondell Blogathon

by Kimberly Lindbergs | August 18, 2011

Categories | Movie Reviews, Actresses, Crime, Blogathons, Movie Morlocks, TCM

From my latest post at the Movie Morlocks:

“During the month of August TCM highlights the work of a select group of talented performers as part of their annual Summer Under the Stars festival. The Movie Morlocks were asked to select one overlooked star from the Summer Under the Stars line-up to spotlight during a weeklong celebration of their work. Last year the Morlocks highlighted the accomplishments of Woody Strode and before that, Gloria Grahame and Fred MacMurray. This year the Morlocks are setting their sights on Joan Blondell with a blogathon that takes place August 18th – 24th.”

I decided to kick start the blogathon with a look at Kona Coast (1968), which was just released on DVD from the Warner Archives and will be playing on TCM August 24th. Kona Coast may not rate as one of the best films that Blondell ever appeared in but it does contain some elements that should appeal to fans of groovy ’60s cinema, including one of the best 7-minute openings I’ve seen in a long time and a terrific score by by composer Jack Marshall. Kona Coast is a fun late night summer movie that probably should be watched while you have a few Mai Tai’s on hand. You can read my full review by following the link below.

- Joan Blondell Goes Hawaiian @ TCM’s Classic Movie Blog

I also created a special Flickr gallery of images from Kona Coast that you can find here.

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Geneviève Bujold is ISABEL (1968)

by Kimberly Lindbergs | July 15, 2011

Categories | Movie Reviews, Horror, Actresses, Movie Morlocks, TCM

“You can’t put anything into a character that you haven’t got within you.”
- Geneviève Bujold (Picture from Isabel; 1968)

Geneviève Bujold is one of my favorite working actresses and a recent Netflix search for her name revealed a Canadian horror film titled Isabel (Paul Almond; 1968) on “Instant Watch” that she appeared in, which I’d never heard of before. After searching through numerous books I own and researching the film online I was surprised by how little information about the movie was available. It received positive reviews from TIME Magazine as well as the New York Times when it was originally released but for one reason or another the film has fallen into relative obscurity over the years (especially outside of Canada ) and has never been released on video or DVD in the U.S. When I finally made some time to watch Isabel I fell in love with the film and was amazed by Bujold’s incredible performance. It’s a slow moving, thoughtful horror movie that will probably only appeal to a small audience but I decided to write about Isabel for the Movie Morlocks this week. Here’s a brief excerpt from my post:

“Paul Almond’s ISABEL (1968) begins with a train journey across a snow-covered landscape. We watch as the film’s star, Geneviève Bujold, sits awkwardly in her seat and squirms uncomfortably in front of the camera’s unrelenting eye. She is biding her time by shuffling through a small stack of books and papers in an effort to fend off unpleasant thoughts and feelings. You see, Isabel is a woman haunted by ghosts. These ghosts have hidden themselves deep within the recesses of Isabel’s troubled mind but when she’s asked to return to her family’s ancestral home following her mother’s death, Isabel is forced to confront the phantoms that posses her.”

If you’d like to read more about this fascinating film you’ll find my full post over at the Movie Morlocks:
- Geneviève Bujold is ISABEL (1968) @ TCM’s Classic Movie Blog

I also created a Flickr gallery of images from the film that you can find here.

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