She’s been married eight times to seven different men. She was condemned by the Vatican for her “erotic vagrancy.” She’s received two Academy Awards, four Golden Globes and one Razzie. She saved Montgomery Clift’s life in 1956. She’s given countless millions to charity. Andy Warhol turned her likeness into art and Mattel turned her likeness into a doll. Elizabeth Taylor is a true “Movie Star” and today the legendary actress is celebrating her 76th birthday.
Throughout the following week I’m going to be writing about a few of my favorite Elizabeth Taylor films made during the late sixties and early seventies. Taylor is undoubtedly one of cinema’s great beauties and her early work is often praised by critics who claim that Elizabeth Taylor’s acting talents peaked in 1966 when she made the award winning film Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? with her husband Richard Burton and director Mike Nichols. Contrary to popular critical opinion, I think some of Taylor’s most interesting roles can be found in the films she made between 1967-1975. During this period Elizabeth Taylor really matured as an actress and with Burton by her side, she was willing to take on risky roles in unusual films that were often financial failures and typically misunderstood and attacked by critics.
In the next week I hope to shine a little light on some of the lesser-known movies that Elizabeth Taylor made during this later period in her career when she seemed to use her age, experience, faults, quirks, addictions, inner turmoil and the passionate relationship she shared with fellow actor Richard Burton to inject her roles with an edgy over-the-top candor that I personally find fascinating to watch on screen.
For most of my life I’ve disliked Doris Day. Doris was one of my mother’s favorite actresses and when I was a kid I had to sit through all the romantic comedies she made with Rock Hudson and James Garner numerous times, but they never really appealed to me when I was growing up. Doris was always just too blond, perky and cheerful for my liking and I found her carefree attitude just plain off-putting. I was a rather sullen, angry and rebellious kid, so I suppose that was one reason Doris and her colorful films didn’t do a thing for me when I was younger. In some ways I think I was a bit jealous of the way Doris managed to effortlessly smile through movie after movie, no matter how lackluster the material was.
About six or seven years ago something strange happened. It all started when I caught Doris Day playing an American heiress named Kit Preston in the entertaining thriller Midnight Lace (David Miller; 1960) opposite the great Rex Harrison when it was playing on television one afternoon. Midnight Lace might not be a brilliant film, but with its faux-London setting, fabulous Irene Lentz costume designs, creative photography by cinematographer Russell Metty and a suspenseful score by composer Frank Skinner, it’s an effective movie and easily one of Doris Day’s best efforts in my opinion. She doesn’t sing one song in Midnight Lace, but Doris really gets to show off her acting chops as she descends into madness while being pursued by a potential murderer.
Midnight Lace is not in the same league as the great films it borrows from such as Hitchcock’s Dial M for Murder (1954) and George Cukor’s Gaslight (1944), but if you happen to like stylish sixties thrillers, you might enjoy the movie as much as I do. Besides Doris Day and Rex Harrison, the cast of Midnight Lace also includes the wonderful Myrna Loy, a menacing Roddy McDowall, the handsome John Gavin and the always dependable John Williams as Inspector Byrnes, who’s trying to find out who’s terrorizing Doris Day throughout the course of the film. Midnight Lace managed to make me reevaluate my opinion about Doris Day and I started to really appreciate her excellent fashion sense, carefree smile and independent spirit.
Doris Day modeling the Irene Lentz fashions designed for Midnight Lace (1960)
In recent years I began watching many of her films in a new light and now I have no problem enjoying silly romantic Doris Day comedies like Move Over, Darling (1963) and Do Not Disturb (1965) or the fun spy capers she made like The Glass Bottom Boat (1966) and the underrated Caprice (1967), which I hope to review in the future. The older I get the more I’m able to completely loose myself in the charm of these often critically maligned films and I now find Doris Day’s wide smile infectious. I’ve also started listening to lots of Doris Day records recently thanks to the Swinging and Singing blog which has been sharing some rare and apparently out-of-print Doris Day recordings such as the terrific jazz soundtrack she recorded with Harry James & His Orchestra for her film A Young Man and His Horn (Michael Curtiz; 1950).
This is why I was happy to learn that the Doris Day will be receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award this weekend during the 50th Annual Grammy Awards‘ celebration. The Lifetime Achievement Awards will be handed out on Saturday in a non-televised ceremony and will probably only garner a brief mention during the actual award show that’s airing on Sunday night. This will be her first Grammy, but Doris isn’t expected to attend since the 83 year old singer and actress may be suffering from some health problems and she’s become a bit of recluse over the years, while devoting herself to numerous animal rights’ causes. I wish her well and I’m glad The Recording Academy is finally acknowledging Doris Day’s contribution to popular music.
A new issue of the British film magazine Cinema Retro arrived in my mailbox yesterday and it might be my favorite issue yet. I’ve been feeling under the weather lately, but flipping through a new issue of Cinema Retro overstuffed with fantastic color photos from ’60s and ’70s era films can cheer me right up.
I’m tempted to refer to issue #10 as the “Blond Bombshell” issue since it contains articles on no less then four fabulous blond starlets including Susan George, Joy Harmon, Doris Day and gorgeous cover girl Elke Sommer. Elke has long been one of my favorite actresses and Cinema Retro #10 features an extensive look at one of her best films, Ralph Thomas’s super spy thriller Deadlier Than the Male (1967). Besides lots of amazing photos from the film you’ll find a piece called In Conversation with Elke Sommer where she discusses her experiences while making the movie. The article also mentions that Elke will be appearing regularly in upcoming issues discussing her life and career in film, which I’m really looking forward to reading.
Other highlights from issue #10 include an insightful look at one of my favorite British films from the sixties, Michael Winner’s smart satire about the world of advertising called I’ll Never Forget What’s’isname (1967), which starred the great Oliver Reed in one of his best roles as an angry young man working for an advertising agency while trying to manage his chaotic love life. Orson Welles also has a memorable role in the film as Reed’s ex-boss who tries to lure him back to the company once he gives up advertising to write for a small literary magazine.
Top: Doris Day and Oliver Reed
Bottom: Peter Cushing and Susan George
In the new issue there is also a firsthand account of the 50th Anniversary celebration of the release of Hammer’s first color film The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) that was held at Bray Studios last summer, a fascinating look at cuts that were made to Sam Peckinpah’s controversial film Straw Dogs (1971), as well as the magazine’s ongoing features on special effects wizard Ray Harryhausen, the actress and Bond girl Luciana Pauluzzi, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. star David McCallum and The Man from U.N.C.L.E. films, which were recently shown on Turner Movie Classics here in the states.
Naturally there’s lots more to read in Cinema Retro #10 such as soundtrack reviews and various bits of film related news and information. I’m sure the new issue is going to sell out fast so grab it while you can. It has inspired me to revisit some of my favorite Elke Sommer movies so you can expect me to be writing more about the actress and her films in the future.
In the meantime check out my previous posts about Cinema Retro and visit the magazine’s official site for more information on how you can get yourself a copy of the latest issue. The web’s great, but please continue to support print magazines!
From the trustworthy Arbogast and various other online sources comes the sad news that the iconic horror hostess and actress Vampira (aka Maila Nurmi) has passed away at the age of 86. If you’ve read my blog long enough, you’re probably aware that I have a deep affection for horror hosts and I greatly admired the lovely Vampira. She was the original bad girl of late night TV and paved the way for many other men and women to follow in her footsteps. Even though I’ve never been a horror hostess myself, I’ve definitely been inspired by women like Vampira and her followers such as Elvira (aka Cassandra Peterson) over the years.
Maila Nurmi was a beautiful woman and she lived a long and fascinating life. If you’d like to learn more about her I recommend the following links:
My favorite Hammer bad girl turns 70 today and I want to wish her a very happy birthday!
The lovely Ingrid Pitt started acting in horror films in 1964 and she first appeared in the entertaining, but flawed Sound of Horror (aka El Sonido prehistórico) directed by José Antonio Nieves Conde with another horror legend, the beautiful Soledad Miranda. After small roles in films like Orson Welles’ Chimes at Midnight (1965) and David Lean’s Doctor Zhivago (1965), she got her big break in the popular WW2 film Where Eagles Dare (1968) where she got to work alongside Richard Burton and Clint Eastwood.
Ingrid would go on to appear in many great British horror films throughout the seventies including The Vampire Lovers (1970), The House That Dripped Blood (1971), The Wicker Man (1973) and my personal favorite Ingrid Pitt film, the fabulous Countess Dracula (1971). Ingrid really gets to shine as the deadly Countess Elisabeth Nodosheen (Elizabeth Bathory) in Countess Dracula, which is one of Hammer’s best and most unappreciated films. She also had roles in popular television shows such as Jason King, which I wrote about earlier this year.
Unlike many screen beauties who fade away and disappear into obscurity, the lovely Ingrid Pitt continues to appear in films and she has no less then three horror movies coming out soon, including the first Hammer film in decades called Beyond the Rave. She seems immensely proud of her work in British horror films and she is in the process of starting her own film production company called Hammer Glammer Films along with her fellow Hammer horror starlets, the lovely Caroline Munro, Veronica Carlson and Steffanie Pitt. You go girls!
Ingrid often appeared as a bold and smart woman in her films, who was always in control and ready for just about anything. I only wish she had made more movies during the sixties and seventies. In her real life she is also a bold and outspoken woman, and she isn’t afraid to share her thoughts about current events on her website. I’ve admired Ingrid for many years as an accomplished actress and a published author, and I hope she’ll continue to do interesting work for a long time to come. Happy birthday Ingrid!
Book author Tom Lisanti was kind enough to answer some questions for me over at Cinedelica about his new book Glamour Girls of Sixties Hollywood, which I reviewed here over the weekend.
The interview is well worth reading if you’re a fan of sixties-era film starlets and Tom talks a lot about his upcoming book projects such as the Gail Gerber memoir Strange Love: Terry Southern, Hollywood, and Me.
Tom also offers up some great tips for winter viewing that will take the chill off and help you beat the winter weather blues.
I hope Cinebeats’ readers will stop by Cinedelica and check out the interview!
Tom Lisanti’s latest book Glamour Girls of Sixties Hollywood has just been released and it’s definitely one of his best. Tom has written numerous books featuring sixties-era film starlets such as Drive-In Dream Girls, Film Fatales and Fantasy Femmes of 60’s Cinema, and his latest effort offers readers a fascinating look at many of Hollywood’s most beautiful and overlooked talents. These “decorative actresses” often began their careers as beauty queens, fashion models, showgirls and centerfolds, who ended up as eye-candy in countless genre films. They were often given thankless roles as strippers, beach bunnies, airline hostesses or sexy secretaries in movies that tended to focus on their earthy assets instead of their acting abilities, but occasionally some of these women were able to get more substantial roles that made use off all their talents.
Inside Glamour Girls of Sixties Hollywood you’ll find detailed profiles of 75 beautiful actresses from spy films, horror movies, popular television shows, as well as buxom starlets from many of Russ Meyer’s best films. Some of the actresses profiled in the book include Edy Williams, Lee Meredith, Melodie Johnson, Lisa Seagram, Dolly Read, Tura Sutana, Susan Denberg, Sharon Tate, Beverly Adams, Victoria Carroll, Thordis Brandt, Inga Neilson, Yvonne Craig and Ann Morell. Many of the insightful profiles also include interviews, which offer readers an insider’s look at what it was like to work as a “glamour girl” in films and television during the sixties. These interviews contain lots of juicy Hollywood gossip, which makes the book an entertaining as well as informative read.
Top: Edy Williams and Susan Denberg
Bottom: Sharon Tate and Beverly Adams
One of my favorite interviews in the book is with the lovely actress Thordis Brandt who appeared in films such as The Swinger (1966), Spinout (1966), Nevada Smith (1966), In Like Flint (1967), Funny Girl (1968), The Witchmaker (1969) and Myra Breckinridge (1970). Brandt talks about her romantic flings with Bruce Lee who she met on the set of The Green Hornet, and James Arness who she met on the set of Gunsmoke.
Glamour Girls of Sixties Hollywood is a real treasure trove of information about many talented and beautiful women that have often been forgotten, and it reads like a celebration of their worthwhile accomplishments. Tom Lisanti clearly loves his subjects and shares that passion with his readers. This hardcover book contains 242 pages, plus many stunning black and white photographs and an interesting introduction written by Tom.
One of my all-time favorite actresses has passed away due to complications from Parkinson’s disease, the lovely and talented Deborah Kerr. She was an extraordinarily talented woman with an abundance of grace and beauty, and she appeared in some of my favorite films from the sixties including The Innocents (1961) The Night of the Iguana (1964) and Casino Royale (1967), as well as many other films that I love such as Black Narcissus (1947), The King and I (1956), Bonjour Tristesse (1958), The Chalk Garden (1964) and Eye of the Devil (1966), etc.
I had planned on writing about The Innocents in the coming days because frankly, there is no film that I find more chilling or haunting than that film made by Jack Clayton in 1961, which starred the lovely Deborah Kerr. The Innocents is the first movie that comes to my mind when I think of “films that give me the willies” and that’s saying a lot, since I’ve literally watched thousands of horror films throughout the course of my life at this point. Due to Deborah’s passing, I figured I’d write a little bit about my favorite horror film today.
I first watched The Innocents when I was just a young 9 or 10 year old kid. I caught the film playing on television one summer afternoon while I was staying with my grandmother and even the bright afternoon sun streaming through the windows couldn’t chase away the chilling effect that the film had on me.
The haunting images conjured up by Jack Clayton’s brilliant directing and Freddie Francis’ absolutely breathtaking cinematography were stained on my retinas and embedded in my mind, and they would remain with me my entire life. I’ve seen the film numerous times since then, but it’s a movie I never get tired of watching and it always manages to fill me with absolute dread.
The Innocents is based on Henry James classic tale The Turn of the Screw and it’s one of the greatest adaptations ever made. Clayton was able to perfectly capture all the nuanced elements of Henry James’ story about a sexually repressed governess who is haunted by ghosts and her own desires, and turn them into an incredible film that actually rivals the original material it is based on.
Naturally a lot of the films power comes from Deborah Kerr’s incredible performance as the upright Miss Giddens. She’s absolutely perfect in a role that was written for a much younger woman. I don’t think a younger actress could have really captured the sort of repressed sexual longing and complicated fears that the character is struggling with in the film and Kerr’s astonishing performance has never been matched. Countless actresses have tried to play the character of Miss Giddens in many film adaptations of The Turn of the Screw and I believe I’ve sat through them all, but Kerr’s performance in The Innocents has never been topped and frankly, I don’t think it ever will.
I have a confession to make. I love British historical dramas. In fact, I’m a bit obsessed with British history in general, and one of my favorite historical dramas is Anne of the Thousand Days (1969, dir. Charles Jarrott) which is finding its way onto NTSC Region-1 DVD for the first time today.
The film features a terrific cast of talented actors, including the great Richard Burton who gives one of his most controlled and intense performances here as King Henry VIII, but the real reason to watch this rather dark and extremely lush drama is to see one of my favorite actresses, the lovely and talented Genevieve Bujold, in one of her finest roles as the proud and defiant Anne Boleyn. Her incredible performance won her a Golden Globe in 1969 and even garnered her an Oscar nomination. She really is luminous here as the young doomed Queen who gives birth to a daughter - Elizabeth I - and soon finds herself accused of adultery, incest, treason and witchcraft when she can’t give the King a male heir.
Like most historical dramas, the historical accuracy of Anne of the Thousand Days is questionable, but don’t let that stop you from enjoying this terrific film and Genevieve Bujold’s fantastic performance. Much like the great Fred Zinnemann film A Man for All Seasons (1966), Anne of the Thousand Days offers an interesting look at the passions, politics, and religious upheaval that lead to the English Reformation. The film also boasts some nice photography from cinematographer Arthur Ibbetson and a very good period score from the talented French composer Georges Delrue.
The new Anne of the Thousand Days DVD from Universal also comes with director Charles Jarrott’s critically acclaimed follow-up film Mary, Queen of Scots starring Vanessa Redgrave and Glenda Jackson. I haven’t seen Mary, Queen of Scots myself yet but if it’s anywhere near as good as Anne of the Thousand Days I suspect that I’ll really enjoy it as well. I’m looking forward to giving it a look soon now that it’s easily available on DVD.
The Anne of the Thousand Days / Mary, Queen of Scots DVD is available from Amazon and it presents both of the films in Anamorphic Widescreen. Extras include a Theatrical Trailer for Anne of the Thousand Days, an Isolated Music Only Track with Commentary from Film Historians Nick Redman and Jon Burlingame for Mary, Queen of Scots, a Promotional Featurette and a Sneak Peek of Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007). I’m disappointed with the extras since I would love to have had a commentary with Genevieve Bujold included with the Anne of the Thousand Days disc, but at only $14.99 for two films I guess I can’t complain about the DVD too much.
The films were obviously finally released on DVD in anticipation of Shekhar Kapur’s upcoming follow-up film to Elizabeth (1998). I actually really enjoyed Elizabeth so I’m looking forward to Elizabeth: The Golden Age. I think it will be interesting to watch the terrific Anne of the Thousand Days again, along with Mary, Queen of Scots before seeing Kapur’s new film.
“I could never walk on the streets. I had to wear a veil.
They used to go berserk when they saw me.” - Helen
I’ve been feeling rather awful about forgetting to include any of my favorite Bollywood films such as Jewel Thief (1967) and Gumnaam (1965) when I wrote up a list of Favorite Foreign Films recently so in order to rectify that I thought I would do something that I’ve been eager to do for awhile and that is celebrate the work of my favorite Bollywood star, the stunningly beautiful and incredibly talented Helen.
Helen is known to Bollywood fans by one name and one name only, but she was born Helen Richardson-Khan on October 21, 1939 in Burma to a Anglo father and a Burmese mother. By all accounts Helen’s early life was not easy and after her father died during WWII her mother was forced to leave Burma and flee to India with little Helen and the rest of her children. Helen’s mother could not earn enough money on her own to support her family, so Helen left school and started working in films to help with the family’s financial burden. By age thirteen Helen was getting small roles in Bollywood films as a chorus girl or back-up dancer. In 1953 she started to gain recognition for her dancing skills and Helen began performing solo dance numbers in musicals like Alif Laila (1953). As Helen grew into a beautiful young woman casting directors started offering her more adult roles and her big breakthrough role came in 1958 when she was only 16 years old in the popular Bollywood film Howrah Bridge (1958).
Like most Bollywood stars, Helen did not sing her own songs. Her vocals were provided by some of the industry’s greatest female playback singers such as Asha Bhosle and Lata Mangeshkar, but Helen managed to infuse her musical numbers with her own exotic charm and lots of energy. As the sixties approached she was becoming a recognizable name in the Bollywood film industry and in the following two decades Helen was offered plenty of opportunities to showcase her stunning beauty and impressive dancing abilities, as well as her great comedic timing. She is said to have appeared in over 500 Bollywood movies during the height of her career, which is an amazing accomplishment for any performer.
Helen was known for wearing very revealing and sexy costumes in her films as well as various wigs and colored contacts. This made her easily standout and combined with her beauty and talent, it was easy for Helen to steal just about any scene she appears in even though she was never a huge Bollywood star in the traditional sense. In many movies Helen was reduced to being the bad girl or “other woman” who was often rejected at the end of the film by the handsome male star for a less interesting good girl that he could bring home to mother. She also plays a bit of a lush in many films who enjoys drowning her sorrows and forgetting her cares with a drink or two. Helen could be called the “Queen of Bollywood Bad Girls” as well as “Queen of the Nautch Girls.”
Helen in Teesri Manzil (1966) and Don (1978)
Most of my limited knowledge about Helen came from the wonderful, but all too brief Merchant & Ivory documentary called Helen, Queen of the Nautch Girls, which is available as an extra feature on the DVD for their full-length film Bombay Talkie. According to the documentary and various online sources Nautch Girls are traditional Indian dancers who perform for the pleasure of human beings instead of performing solely in Hindu temples. Helen is also what would be called a “Cabaret Dancer” in Bollywood films or “Cabre Dancer.” Cabre is a type of Bollywood dance that combined traditional Indian dancing with more modern and vigorous beat driven dance moves inspired from Hollywood musicals and no one could out dance the seductive Helen during her heyday in the sixties and early seventies.
Helen semi-retired in the early eighties and now she only occasionally appears in Bollywood films or television dramas. She’s almost 70 now so instead of wearing skimpy costumes and seducing her male co-stars, she’s often playing mothers and grandmothers in her more recent films, but she’s still as lovely as ever.
Many of the early Bollywood films featuring Helen are often crime thrillers or secret agent spy dramas clearly inspired by the worldwide success of the James Bond films. If you enjoy these types of films as much as I do, as well as musicals from the same period than I highly recommend giving some of Helen’s early films a look. Many of them are available on DVD from Eros Entertainment and can be bought cheaply at Amazon or you can find them for rent at Netflix.
It’s impossible to write about Helen’s films without sharing some clips from a few of my favorite Bollywood films featuring knockout performances from Helen. Youtube is overflowing with Bollywood clips and it can be hard to navigate through them to find the good stuff, especially when popular early Bollywood films are often remade countless times. Here are a selection of six great clips from ’60s and ’70s era Bollywood films that are all well worth viewing. Each of these films contain great musical numbers featuring the talented and beautiful Helen, but they’re also terrific films on their own.
There’s a lot of mixed information about Helen online from various sources, but I’m limiting my own write-up to include information I’ve gathered from the Merchant & Ivory film Helen, Queen of the Nautch Girls, as well as the online sources listed below.
In recent years US DVD companies like Media Blasters, Panik House and Discotek Media have introduced American audiences to the amazing and controversial world of Japanese “Pinky Violence” (or “pink violence”) cinema. Before these companies started subtitling films and making them easily available to American audiences on DVD, Japanese cinema obsessives like myself had to make due with bad VHS bootlegs bought in Chinatown or on eBay that often had no subtitles. If you couldn’t understand Japanese you were often completely clueless about the plots and characters of these films and the prints were sometimes barely watchable.
Thankfully there were fanzines like Thomas Weisser’s Asian Trash Cinema and Asian Cult Cinema available in the early ’90s which made it a little easier for non-speaking Japanese film fans to find some information about unusual Asian cinema. But for the most part Japanese genre films were often ignored and completely neglected by American film critics. This has slowly started to change in the last 10 years as critics and film audiences discover that many early Japanese genre films were created by talented and creative filmmakers who clearly enjoyed exploiting innovative ideas and film techniques that had been established by the Japanese New Wave (Nuberu Bagu).
Even though early Japanese genre films are finally getting some much deserved attention and respect, I still come across their detractors. Unfortunately there are still many foreign film fans who think directors like Akira Kurosawa, Yasujiro Ozu and Kenji Mizoguchi are the only Japanese directors whose work should be considered seriously. This kind of limited understanding and lack of appreciation of more modern Japanese cinema might be partly due to the fact that so many Japanese directors from the period such as Seijun Suzuki and Kinji Fukasaku were forced to work inside the Japanese film studio system so it’s assumed that their work could not possibly be all that thought provoking or inventive but frankly nothing could be further from the truth. It can also be argued that Japanese film criticism in the West is still in its infancy and there are many great directors still waiting to be discovered and countless films and filmmakers that need to be reconsidered.
Top: Delinquent Girl Boss: Worthless to Confess (1971)
Bottom: Girl Boss Guerilla (1972)
Pinky Violence is a genre that developed out of the Japanese New Wave in the late sixties and blossomed into it’s own during the early seventies. The term came from the way the films mixed the erotic elements found in Pink Films (a.k.a. Roman Porno) with the action and violence found in Yakuza crime films. Here’s a brief introduction borrowed from Panik House’s own Pinky Violence website that attempts to sum the genre up:
“What is Pinky Violence? It’s a line of sexy, action-exploitation thrillers begun in the late sixties in Japan. These films featured female yakuzas and girl boss guerillas duking it out for their freedom, their pride and their own piece of the pie. This electrifying genre mixed titillation with social commentary, predating its closest American and European counterparts by several years.”
Its American and European counterparts could include films such as Russ Meyer’s Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (1965), Jack Hill’s Coffy (1973), and Bo Arne Vibenius’s Thriller: They Call Her One Eye (a.k.a. Thriller - En Grym Film, 1974), but Pinky Violence cinema has its own charm and an amazing style that is particular to the genre’s country of origin and cinematic roots. What fascinates me about Pinky Violence cinema is that even though the movies were clearly made to titillate male audiences and in turn feature plenty of eroticism, nudity and stylized violence, many of the films also manage to flaunt their New Wave and avant-garde sensibilities while exploring topics like race relations, poverty and sexual discrimination. The best Pinky Violence movies are often critical of post-war Japan and littered with references to the war and the American Occupation. Unfortunately the genre’s noteworthy qualities are often completely overlooked by film critics and fans.
It’s nearly impossible to imagine what life was like in Japan after WWII. People were living in a country destroyed by war and occupied by Americans who brought their own rule of law and culture to the “Land of the Rising Sun.” Between 1946-1947 women in Japan were finally given the right to vote and a new Constitution was constructed by the occupation authorities, which included an equal rights clause and a revised Civil Code that gave women the right to chose their own spouses, retain their property rights, receive equal pay and get equal education opportunities. It must have been a complicated and extremely difficult period for Japanese women who were no doubt suffering the effects of the war, while also benefiting from the changes that these horrible events had brought. I’m positive that the women of Japan would have preferred to have made their own progress on their own terms without any American interference but it’s important to keep in mind when watching Pinky Violence cinema that the beautiful and tough female stars of these films such as Meiko Kaji, Reiko Oshida, Miki Sugimoto and Reiko Ike were all born and raised in the aftermath of this significant and critical time in Japanese history. These actresses represented a new generation of Japanese women who were determined to live life on their own terms in post-war Japan.
The bad and beautiful Reiko Ike, Meiko Kaji, Miki Sugimoto and Reiko Oshida
The latest Pinky Violence film being released in the U.S. is Kô Nakahira’s Rica (a.k.a. Konketsuji Rika, 1972) which was produced by Toho Studios. Kô Nakahira is a talented director who is often considered one of the leading filmmakers of the Japanese New Wave. His early films helped usher in an important new era in Japanese cinema but very little is known about him in America. Unfortunately Nakahira’s films are criminally unavailable here in the US. The only Nakahira film you can currently find on DVD is his critically acclaimed modern masterpiece Crazed Fruit (1956) which was released by Criterion in 2005. Kô Nakahira’s Crazed Fruit is a pivotal Japanese film that influenced French directors like Jean-Luc Godard and François Truffaut so it’s unfortunate that more of Nakahira’s films are not readily available. Thankfully that will change a bit with the release of Rica from Exploitation Digital (a new subdivision of Media Blasters) this week.
Original Rica poster art (1972-1973)
According to various sources I’ve read, Kô Nakahira’s 1972 film tells the story of a “half-breed” (mixed race) woman named Rica (played by Rika Aoki) who was the product of a Japanese mother raped by American G.I.s. After Rica is later raped herself as a young girl, she develops a deep hatred for men and sets out to take revenge for the horrible and violent events that have shaped her life. Rica seems typical of many Pinky Violence heroines who run with gangs and spend time in jail while becoming dangerous female figures in the Japanese underworld.
Rica is the first film in a trilogy and Media Blasters (Exploitation Digital) has plans to release all three of the Rica films in the future. Kô Nakahira only directed the first and second film in the trilogy called Rica 2: Lonely Wanderer (1973) and it will be available on DVD in October. As far as I know these movies are not even available on DVD in Japan so Media Blasters should be commended for making an effort to release these hard to find films. According to Toho Kingdom the new Rica DVD from Media Blasters will contain the original Japanese dialogue with English subtitles and extras include a photo gallery and trailers for all three of the Rica films.
In addition to my previous review of Hiroshi Teshigahara’s film The Face of Another (1966) which has just come out on DVD, I decided to write up a brief piece about the talented Japanese actress and sixties pop idol Bibari Maeda for my music blog Let’s Go J-Sound!
Bibari Maeda has a brief role in The Face of Another, but very little is known about her in the US. If you’re interested in learning more about Maeda please check out my piece about her:
(David Miller; 1960) opposite the great Rex Harrison when it was playing on television one afternoon. Midnight Lace might not be a brilliant film, but with its faux-London setting, fabulous Irene Lentz costume designs, creative photography by cinematographer Russell Metty and a suspenseful score by composer Frank Skinner, it’s an effective movie and easily one of Doris Day’s best efforts in my opinion. She doesn’t sing one song in Midnight Lace, but Doris really gets to show off her acting chops as she descends into madness while being pursued by a potential murderer.
(1973; Robin Hardy)
(1971; Peter Duffell)
(1971; Peter Sasdy)
(1968; Brian G. Hutton)
(1964; José Antonio Nieves Conde)
Book author Tom Lisanti was kind enough to answer some questions for me over at 
Tom Lisanti’s latest book 
has just been released and it’s definitely one of his best. Tom has written numerous books featuring sixties-era film starlets such as 
, 
and 
, and his latest effort offers readers a fascinating look at many of Hollywood’s most beautiful and overlooked talents. These “decorative actresses” often began their careers as beauty queens, fashion models, showgirls and centerfolds, who ended up as eye-candy in countless genre films. They were often given thankless roles as strippers, beach bunnies, airline hostesses or sexy secretaries in movies that tended to focus on their earthy assets instead of their acting abilities, but occasionally some of these women were able to get more substantial roles that made use off all their talents.
One of my favorite interviews in the book is with the lovely actress Thordis Brandt who appeared in films such as The Swinger (1966), Spinout (1966), Nevada Smith (1966), In Like Flint (1967), Funny Girl (1968), The Witchmaker (1969) and Myra Breckinridge (1970). Brandt talks about her romantic flings with Bruce Lee who she met on the set of The Green Hornet, and James Arness who she met on the set of Gunsmoke.
I had planned on writing about The Innocents in the coming days because frankly, there is no film that I find more chilling or haunting than that film made by Jack Clayton in 1961, which starred the lovely Deborah Kerr. The Innocents is the first movie that comes to my mind when I think of “
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The new Anne of the Thousand Days DVD from Universal also comes with director Charles Jarrott’s critically acclaimed follow-up film Mary, Queen of Scots starring Vanessa Redgrave and Glenda Jackson. I haven’t seen Mary, Queen of Scots myself yet but if it’s anywhere near as good as Anne of the Thousand Days I suspect that I’ll really enjoy it as well. I’m looking forward to giving it a look soon now that it’s easily available on DVD.
and it presents both of the films in Anamorphic Widescreen. Extras include a Theatrical Trailer for Anne of the Thousand Days, an Isolated Music Only Track with Commentary from Film Historians Nick Redman and Jon Burlingame for Mary, Queen of Scots, a Promotional Featurette and a Sneak Peek of 
. According to the documentary and various online sources Nautch Girls are traditional Indian dancers who perform for the pleasure of human beings instead of performing solely in Hindu temples. Helen is also what would be called a “Cabaret Dancer” in Bollywood films or “Cabre Dancer.” Cabre is a type of Bollywood dance that combined traditional Indian dancing with more modern and vigorous beat driven dance moves inspired from Hollywood musicals and no one could out dance the seductive Helen during her heyday in the sixties and early seventies.
(1965)
(1967)
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(1971)
(1973)
(1978)
Thankfully there were fanzines like Thomas Weisser’s Asian Trash Cinema and Asian Cult Cinema available in the early ’90s which made it a little easier for non-speaking Japanese film fans to find some information about unusual Asian cinema. But for the most part Japanese genre films were often ignored and completely neglected by American film critics. This has slowly started to change in the last 10 years as critics and film audiences discover that many early Japanese genre films were created by talented and creative filmmakers who clearly enjoyed exploiting innovative ideas and film techniques that had been established by the Japanese New Wave (Nuberu Bagu).
Its American and European counterparts could include films such as Russ Meyer’s 
(1973), and Bo Arne Vibenius’s 
(a.k.a. Thriller - En Grym Film, 1974), but Pinky Violence cinema has its own charm and an amazing style that is particular to the genre’s country of origin and cinematic roots. What fascinates me about Pinky Violence cinema is that even though the movies were clearly made to titillate male audiences and in turn feature plenty of eroticism, nudity and stylized violence, many of the films also manage to flaunt their New Wave and avant-garde sensibilities while exploring topics like race relations, poverty and sexual discrimination. The best Pinky Violence movies are often critical of post-war Japan and littered with references to the war and the American Occupation. Unfortunately the genre’s noteworthy qualities are often completely overlooked by film critics and fans.
(a.k.a. Nora-neko Rokku: Sekkusu Hanta, 1970), 
(Zubeko bancho: zange no neuchi mo nai, 1971) 
(a.k.a. Joshuu 701-gô: Sasori , 1972), 
(Sukeban Gerira, 1972), 
(a.k.a. Furyô Anego Den: Inoshika Ochô , 1973) and 
(a.k.a. Zeroka No Onna: Akai Wappa, 1974) could have never been made in the pre-WWII Japan found in Ozu’s early films.
(a.k.a. Konketsuji Rika, 1972) which was produced by Toho Studios. Kô Nakahira is a talented director who is often considered one of the leading filmmakers of the Japanese New Wave. His early films helped usher in an important new era in Japanese cinema but very little is known about him in America. Unfortunately Nakahira’s films are criminally unavailable here in the US. The only Nakahira film you can currently find on DVD is his critically acclaimed modern masterpiece 
(1956) which was released by Criterion in 2005. Kô Nakahira’s Crazed Fruit is a pivotal Japanese film that influenced French directors like Jean-Luc Godard and François Truffaut so it’s unfortunate that more of Nakahira’s films are not readily available. Thankfully that will change a bit with the release of Rica from Exploitation Digital (a new subdivision of Media Blasters) this week.
(1973) and it will be available on DVD in October. As far as I know these movies are not even available on DVD in Japan so Media Blasters should be commended for making an effort to release these hard to find films. According to 