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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What’s It All About, Alfie?

by Kimberly Lindbergs | June 21, 2011

Categories | Books, Actors, Terence Stamp, Klaus Kinski, Sean Connery, Michael Caine

Michael Caine was one of the coolest actors working during the ’60s and ’70s but he was also incredibly sexy. He had unconventional good looks and I love the thick black glasses he used to wear that often hid his eyes and amazingly long lashes. Michael Caine may have played a British tough guy on numerous occasions but he had some of the loveliest eyes I’ve ever seen on an actor. He’s also incredibly talented and appeared in a lot of terrific movies including The Ipcress File (1965), Alfie (1966), Gambit (1966), Funeral in Berlin (1966), Billion Dollar Brain (1967), Deadfall (1968), The Magus (1968), The Italian Job (1969), Get Carter (1970), Sleuth (1972) and John Huston’s remarkable epic adventure, The Man Who Would Be King (1975), which was recently re-released on DVD and Blu-Ray a few weeks ago, just to name a few. Caine’s lengthy filmography is incredibly impressive, which is why he’s a living legend today. If you’re interested in learning more about the actor I highly recommend his 1992 autobiography “What’s It All About?” I recently picked up a copy for 50 cents at my local Goodwill store and it was a fast and fun read. Michael Caine writes with the same sense of humor that is apparent in many of the interviews he’s done. Here’s a few choice quotes from his book…

“One of the biggest movie companies in Britain at the time was Associated British Pictures, who ran their operation like an old Hollywood studio, with a rota of actors under contract. I was sent to see their chief casting director, a very powerful man called Robert Lennard… “My son is an accountant.” he said, “and he has more chance of success in this business than you do.” I sat there quite numb but smiling. He went on, “This may sound unkind, but you will thank me in the long run. I know this business well and I can assure you that you have no future in it. Give it up, Michael.”

“Terry (Stamp) and I made a pact at the beginning of the year. Because our profession was so unpredictable and we never knew who was going to be making any money, we promised each other that whichever one of us was working, if the other one could not pay his share of the rent, the one with the money would cough up. We shook hands on the deal, a sign of the true bond and depth of our friendship, and that is how it remained until we eventually made enough money for flats of our own.”

“The sixties had arrived in London. The Beatles were playing endlessly on the radio, The Rolling Stones were gathering fans and David Bailey was taking pictures of what he called “Dolly Birds.” This particular breed was brand new and all of a sudden more numerous than the London sparrow. All at once it seemed that every pretty girl with no tits was modeling clothes and every pretty girl with big tits was modeling those.”

“I had never imagined that Alfie would be released in the US and had played the role in a very thick Cockney accent with lots of slang words that would have made it impossible for an American to understand. Shelly Winters once told me many years later that she had never understood a single word I said to her in Alfie, and had just waited for my lips to stop moving and taken that as her cue to speak.”

“Working with Sean (Connery) was an absolute joy for me. I had rarely worked with an actor who was so unselfish and generous, so much so that you could experiment and take chances and not expect to find a knife in your back if it went wrong. We did all sorts of improvisations, which are less easy in films than in the theatre because of the technology involved, but it was all done in a completely relaxed atmosphere, because John (Huston) trusted us and we trusted each other.”

“There used to be a hardware store right on Beverly Hills Drive* where you could buy mundane things like nails and string, but where you could see the most extraordinary people buying them. I once saw Fred Astaire buying sandpaper and Danny Kaye buying one light bulb. The most frightening sight I ever saw during my whole stay in America was in that hardware store. I hid behind a shelf of tools and watched Klaus Kinski buying an axe. It cleared the store.”

*I believe Michael Caine is referring to Hollywood’s historic Pioneer Hardware store on Crescent Dr. in Beverly Hills, where you can still purchase some sandpaper or an axe if the need ever arises.

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Sean Connery at 80

by Kimberly Lindbergs | August 25, 2010

Categories | Movie Reviews, Actors, Spies & Secret Agents, Sean Connery

Sean Connery in From Russia With Love (1963)

Sean Connery celebrated his 80th birthday today and there was a brief interview with him published in Scotland’s Daily Record that’s worth a read. He talks about retiring from acting and why From Russia With Love (1963) is his favorite of all the films he made. Good stuff!

Interview:
- Sean Connery at 80: My acting days are over but I’m still loving life.

And a great interview with Connery done at Cannes in 1968 . . .

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20 Favorite DVD Releases of 2008: Part I.

by Kimberly Lindbergs | March 11, 2009

Categories | Movie Reviews, Horror, Japanese Cinema, French Cinema, American Cinema, Crime, Hammer Horror, Spanish Cinema, Alain Delon, Criterion, Serge Gainsbourg, Helmut Berger, Thrillers, William Klein, Favorite 2008 DVDs, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Featured, Yasuharu Hasebe, Nikkatsu, Delphine Seyrig, Paul Naschy, Sean Connery, Carol Lynley, Seth Holt

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but overall 2008 was somewhat of a lackluster year for new Region 1 DVD releases of ’60s and ’70s era films when compared to the previous two years (See: 2006 and 2007). Some of my favorite DVD companies such as BCI Eclipse and most recently New Yorker Films have folded. Boutique DVD companies are releasing fewer products and what is being released is often of questionable quality. With the failing economy and the rise in popularity of Blu-ray discs, it seems like the number of new worthwhile DVD releases might continue to drop dramatically in 2009. Many companies such as Blue Underground and Criterion are choosing to re-release films that have already been available on DVD, while big studios like Warner Brothers and Paramount seem to be focusing a lot of their energy on re-releasing titles on Blu-ray instead of releasing old films from their vaults.

Even with this disappointing turn of events, fans of ’60s and ’70s cinema were still offered some great DVD box sets from companies like Lions Gate as well as Criterion. Sony Pictures has also released an interesting batch of DVDs under their new “Martini Movies” label. And with curiosity about Japanese pink films on the rise, companies like Mondo Macabro and Media Blasters took full advantage of this and released some unexpected gems last year. 2008 was also a great year for British horror fans. Besides multiple Hammer DVD releases including the Icons of Horror: Hammer Films Collection and the Icons of Adventure Film Collection, there were also some great Amicus films released such as Freddie Francis’ The Skull and The Deadly Bees.

In previous years I’ve shared a list of my Top 30 Favorite DVD releases, but this year I’m narrowing my list down to my favorite Top 20 releases. This is mainly due to my disappointment with last year’s DVD offerings and I wanted to focus on a limited selection of new releases that I really enjoyed. As always, my list only features films that were originally released between 1960 and 1979 on Region 1 DVD. I tried not to include any DVD re-releases on my list or TV shows, but there were plenty to choose from. My selections are listed in alphabetical order and I’ll be posting them in two parts in the coming week. Below are selections #1-10.

Alain Delon and Romy Schneider in La Piscine (1969)

1. Alain Delon - Five Film Collection (Lions Gate)
Anytime an Alain Delon film finds it’s way onto DVD for the first time there’s a celebration in my home! The Lions Gate Alain Delon DVD boxset was a real treat and offered viewers the opportunity to see five films starring my favorite French actor. I thought the best films in the collection were easily La Piscine aka The Swimming Pool (1969) and Diaboliquement vôtre aka Diabolically Yours (1967), which I reviewed back in 2007. But The Widow Couderc and Notre Histoire also make for some worthwhile viewing. Le Gitan aka The Gypsy (1975) is a bit like sitting through Zorro II, but it’s missing the catchy theme song. I actually enjoy Delon’s original Zorro (1975) film, but Le Gitan left me a little cold. For more information about this DVD release please see my previous comments about it here.

Christopher Walken, Stan Gottlieb and Sean Connery in The Anderson Tapes (1971)

2. The Anderson Tapes (Sony Pictures)
The Anderson Tapes (1971) is one of the hidden gems that can be found in the recent batch of “Martini Movies” released by Sony Pictures. This ’70s caper film was directed by Sidney Lumet when he was at the top of his game and it’s based on a novel written by Lawrence Sanders. The movie features a great cast that includes Sean Connery, Dyan Cannon, Martin Balsam, Alan King and a very young and incredibly cute Christopher Walken in his first major film role. The premise of the film involves a group of con men that Anderson (Sean Connery) brings together in order to pull off a major heist at an upper-class apartment building in New York. Unfortunately for Anderson everyone he contacts is under surveillance for different reasons, so every move he makes is being carefully monitored. Sidney Lumet does an impressive job of filming the events as they unfold through the use of surveillance cameras and sound. And I really liked the adult way that Connery’s relationship with Dyan Cannon was handled. The film was released a year before the Watergate scandal made headlines and three years before Francis Ford Coppala’s seminal film The Conversation, which tackled similar themes. I was surprised by how much The Anderson Tapes had obviously influenced Coppola’s later films and I’m not just referring to The Conversation. Clearly writer Lawrence Sanders and director Sidney Lumet were well aware of the way surveillance was starting to play a role in modern society and the film does a terrific job of exploring the way it invades the life of one unsuspecting man. Quincy Jones created the film’s soundtrack and I think is one of the composers most experimental and unusual efforts. Jones used electronic sounds and noise to convey various emotions and ideas in the film and it works really well with the way Lumet handles the material. The film is presented in widescreen and the print looks terrific. Unfortunately there aren’t a lot of extras on the DVD besides the original trailer and the Martini Movie features which come with every one of their releases.

Assault! Jack the Ripper (1976)

3. Assault! Jack the Ripper (Mondo Macabro)
This is not an easy film to recommend and many will undoubtedly be shocked by the film’s subject matter. Some hardened horror fans will even shy away from the graphic nature of the film, but Assault! Jack the Ripper (1976) is easily one of the most transgressive and fascinating violent pink movies I’ve seen and in turn, one of my favorite DVD releases of last year. Assault! Jack the Ripper was directed by Yasuharu Hasebe who has made some of my favorite Japanese films including Black Tight Killers (1966), Bloody Territories (1969), Female Prisoner Scorpion: #701’s Grudge Song (1973) and the Stray Cat Rock films. The movie centers around the violent and erotic adventures of young working couple who accidentally discover that they get sexual satisfaction from torturing and murdering other women. The film used true crimes such as the notorious Chicago nurse murders committed by Richard Speck for inspiration. It’s propelled by an incredible Euro-flavored soundtrack and some breathtaking cinematography. Assault! Jack the Ripper is not light viewing and audiences should be prepared to watch the DVD extras that come with the film in order to get a deeper understanding of the movie’s subversive themes, but it’s well worth the effort for adventurous viewers. The DVD extras include an insightful interview with author Jasper Sharp who wrote Behind the Pink Curtain: The Complete History of Japanese Sex Cinema, extensive notes about the film and a great documentary called The Erotic Empire which discusses Nikkatsu Studios “Romantic Pornographic” aka Roman Porno films.

Blue Eyes of the Broken Doll (1973)

4. Blue Eyes of the Broken Doll (Special Edition) (BCI / Eclipse)
A lot of Paul Naschy films found their way onto DVD last year, but Carlos Aured’s Blue Eyes of the Broken Doll (1973) was my favorite of the bunch. In this Spanish giallo Paul Naschy plays a deeply troubled ex-con who gets hired as a caretaker for a lavish estate owned by three beautiful sisters who seem to all vie for Naschy’s affections. After Naschy takes the job, a serial killer begins terrorizing the countryside and removing the eyes of his blue-eyed victims. Is Naschy the cold-blooded killer or is someone else to blame for the horrible murders? You’ll have to watch the film to find out! No one in Blue Eyes of the Broken Doll is particularly likable, but I found that aspect of the film strangely compelling. Carlos Aured does a good job with the dream sequences in the film and Paul Naschy ’s script features plenty of unusual twists and turns to keep viewers entertained. Fans of European thrillers should find the film enjoyable. The DVD comes with some great extras including audio commentary with Paul Naschy and director Carlos Aured.

Reiko Oshida in Delinquent Girl Boss: Blossoming Night Dreams (1970)

5. Delinquent Girl Boss: Blossoming Night Dreams (Media Blasters)
For more information about this release please see my lengthy review of the film here.

Serge Gainsbourg, Delphine Seyrig and John Abbey in Mr. Freedom (1969)

6. The Delirious Fictions of William Klein - Eclipse Series 9 (Eclipse / Criterion)
This Eclipse/Criterion DVD collection was one of the best things the company released last year and for my money, possibly the best DVD film collection of 2008. Previously William Klein’s films were incredibly hard to come by and the prints that were floating around from various sources were often very poor. Criterion’s choice to release three of William Klein’s films was a real surprise and a treat for anyone like myself who enjoys avant-garde cinema from the ’60s. Director William Klein was a fashion photographer and an American expat living in Paris when he made these films, which satirize the fashion industry, pervading cultural values and American political policies. Although some may see the films as mere products of the times that they were made in, I think they’re still extremely relevant today. Who Are You, Polly Maggoo? aka Qui êtes-vous, Polly Maggoo? (1966) and Mr. Freedom (1969) are the standout features in this three film set and I’d be hard pressed to pick a favorite from the two. Both films feature some incredible visuals and lots of dark humor. The Model Couple (1977) is also well worth a look even if it’s lacking the style and intellectual punch of the other two films in the collection. This terrific set of films deserves a lot more attention than I can give it now but I briefly mentioned how excited I was about this DVD release last year and you can find that post along with a clip from Who Are You, Polly Maggoo? here. Unfortunately like all the Eclipse/Criterion DVD releases this DVD collection is very bare bones, but still well worth owning.

The Gorgon (1964)

7. Icons of Horror: Hammer Films (Sony Pictures)
I’m always happy to see any Hammer horror films finding their way onto DVD and the 2-disc Icons of Horror collection contained one of my long-time favorite Hammer productions, Terence Fisher’s The Gorgon (1964) as well as Seth Holt’s exceptional thriller Scream of Fear (1961). This four film collection also featured Michael Carreras’s The Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb (1964) and The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll (1960). I hadn’t had the opportunity to see Terence Fisher’s The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll before this DVD release and I was really surprised by how well done the film was. I personally think it’s one of the better films based on Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic story thanks to Paul Massie’s excellent duel performance as Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde. The Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb is definitely the weakest film in the collection, which still means it’s better than most of the horror films you’ll find playing at your local multiplex right now. All the films look terrific and are presented in widescreen. Terence Fisher and Seth Holt were two of the finest directors that worked with Hammer studios so it’s nice to see them both represented in this great new DVD set. Unfortunately it suffers from a lack of extras which plagues many Hammer DVD releases, but it’s hard to complain when you can currently purchase all four films for a mere $16.99 at Amazon (see link above).

Oliver Reed and Carol Lynley in The Shuttered Room (1967)

8. It!/The Shuttered Room (Warner Home Video)
I have so much I want to say about these two joint British/American productions that I hate trying to sum up my feelings in one paragraph so I may revisit them later, but in an effort to get this list finished up I’ll try and formulate a few quick thoughts. It! (1966) is a highly entertaining horror movie directed by Herbert J. Leder and it stars the talented Roddy McDowall. McDowall plays a mentally disturbed museum curator (playing homage to Anthony Perkins) who finds himself in all kinds of trouble after he displays a strange statue at the museum where he’s employed. The highly improbable plot gets more and more ridiculous as the film unfolds, but I won’t spoil it for potential viewers. It! is a really fun movie that has to be seen to be believed and Roddy McDowall is terrific in it. The second film in this two movie set is David Greene’s The Shuttered Room (1967) and it’s the real reason you should purchase this DVD. The movie features a great cast and two exceptional performances from the film’s star Carol Lynley and her co-star, the late great Oliver Reed. The script is based on a story written by August Derleth, who was H. P. Lovecraft’s posthumous collaborator and Derleth used many of Lovecraft’s own notes and ideas to compile his tale. The finale result may seem a little uneven to some, but I think The Shuttered Room is one of the few films that successfully captures the unsettling mood found in some of Lovecraft’s best fiction. David Greene’s direction is impressive at times, but the film is really elevated by the experimental avant-garde score composed by controversial British jazz musician Basil Kirchin. Kirchin composed music for other British horror films such as The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971) and The Mutations (1974), but his score for The Shuttered Room just might be his most effective. Unfortunately this is another bare bones DVD release with no worthwhile extras, but it’s great to see these deserving horror films finally being made available. I’d previously only seen washed out and cut-up prints of The Shuttered Room on television so I was thrilled by the print quality of this new DVD from Warner.

Jean-Paul Belmondo in Le Doulos (1963)

9. Le Doulos (Criterion)
Le Doulos (1963) is one of Jean-Pierre Melville’s earliest crime films (aka “policier”) and while it’s missing some of the polish of the director’s later efforts, it’s still an exceptional film featuring a truly memorable performance from the great Jean-Paul Belmondo. Belmondo charms his way through the film playing a surprisingly ruthless gangster named Silien, who may or may not be a police informant referred to as a “Le doulos” in French slang terms. The film borrows from many classic noir films, but Melville brings his own trademark style and edginess to the proceedings, which gives Le Doulos lots of modern appeal. Criterion did an exceptional job on their release of Le Doulos and one can only hope that they’ll continue to release more of Melville’s films on DVD in the future. Besides a beautifully restored print of the film, the new DVD comes with some great extras including archival interviews with Melville and actors Jean-Paul Belmondo and Serge Reggiani, audio commentary by film scholar Ginette Vincendeau, the original theatrical trailer and a thoughtful new essay by film critic Glenn Kenny.

Helmut Berger in Ludwig (1972)

10. Ludwig (KOCH Lorber Films)
Few directors know how to create epic historical dramas like Luchino Visconti and Ludwig (1972) is one of the director’s most ambitious efforts. This four hour film is not without its flaws, but if you take the time to watch this dramatic retelling of the life of the “mad” Kind Ludwig II of Bavaria you’ll be rewarded with some lush cinematography, grandiose set designs, fabulous period costumes and great performances from the film’s impressive cast. Like many of Visconti’s previous efforts, the film offers viewers an intelligent critique of the powerful and wealthy, while celebrating their extravagances and mourning the passage of time. One of my favorite actors is the Austrian born Helmut Berger who stars as King Ludwig here and this film offered him one of his most expansive and fascinating roles. Visconti and Berger were long-time lovers and they work extremely well together. Visconti indulged Berger during the making of Ludwig and gave the actor plenty of freedom to bring the mad King to life, but he also knew when to rein him in. The film also features Trevor Howard as composer Richard Wagner, Silvano Mangano as Wagner’s mistress Cosima Von Buelow and Romy Schneider was smartly cast as the Empress Elisabeth of Austria. The lovely and talented Romy Schneider had previously become a star due to her sympathetic portrayal of the young Empress Elisabeth in the popular Austrian Sisi films and she brings a lot of experience and skill to her role. This impressive two disc DVD set from KOCH Lorber Films features a digitally restored and re-mastered widescreen print of the film and it’s loaded with extras including a documentary about director Luchino Visconti, a profile of actress Silvano Mangano and an interview with costume designer Piero Tosi. I wish one or two of the extras included with the DVD focused a bit more on the film’s star Helmut Berger, but that’s a minor complaint. This release is a real treat for Luchino Visconti fans like myself.

The second half of my Favorite DVDs of 2008 list can be found here.

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Cinema Retro #12

by Kimberly Lindbergs | October 8, 2008

Categories | Cinema Retro, Sean Connery

A few weeks ago the newest issue of Cinema Retro arrived in my mailbox and I finally had the opportunity to read it last night. The magazine features a lengthy in-depth look at the 1971 film Vanishing Point as well as an interview with the movie’s director Richard C. Sarafian. Car films from the ’70s like Two-Lane Blacktop and Vanishing Point seem to be getting a lot of attention lately and I suspect that it’s primarily due to interest in Quentin Tarantino’s 2007 grindhouse effort Death Proof. I haven’t seen Death Proof myself, but after looking at the previews and reading a few reviews of the film, it seems that Tarantino’s movie references these films a lot. If you’re a fans of ’70s car films or just curious about one of the movies that influenced Tarantino’s Death Proof, you won’t want to miss the latest issue of Cinema Retro.

The new issue also contains interesting articles on the James Bond spy spoof Operation Kid Brother that starred Neil Connery (Sean Connery’s younger brother), a detailed overview of the films of British comedic actor Frankie Howard, ongoing interviews with director Joe Dante and Man From U.N.C.L.E. stars David McCallum and Robert Vaughn, as well as information about the recent Goldfinger reunion that reunited many of the film’s crew and stars; plus a brief look at actor Roger Moore’s associations with Britain’s Pinewood Studios.

My favorite piece in the new issue of Cinema Retro is John Exhsaw’s fascinating look at Don Sharp’s 1975 thriller Hennessy. I’m a fan of many of Don Sharp’s early horror films such as The Kiss of the Vampire (1963), Curse of the Fly (1965), Rasputin: The Mad Monk (1966) and Psychomania (1973) but I hadn’t heard of Hennessy before. According to the article the film stars the talented actor Rod Stieger as an Irishman named Niall Hennessy with connections to the IRA. After Hennessy’s family is killed in a violent skirmish between Belfast citizens and British troops, he begins to plot his revenge and makes plans to blow-up Parliament and kill the Queen of England. The movie also stars Lee Remick, Richard Johnson, Trevor Howard and Patrick Stewart in his first film role. When the movie was released in Britian in 1975 it caused quite a controversy. And when the film finally debuted in America critics apparently didn’t care for it and Hennessy quickly disappeared from theaters. Currently Hennessy only seems available on video but hopefully John Exhsaw’s informative article about the film will encourage people like myself to seek it out. Hennessy seems extremely topical and I suspect that if the movie was released on DVD today it would find a large audience.

The latest issue of Cinema Retro can be purchased directly from the magazine’s official site.

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Annie Nightingale’s Wicked Speed

by Kimberly Lindbergs | May 9, 2008

Categories | Books, Rants & Raves, Sean Connery, Mini Mondays, Scott Walker

Top: Annie Nightingale in 1964

The very groovy Richard Harland Smith over at Turner Movie Classics much admired Movie Morlocks Blog invited me to participate in a sort of “meme” with the following rules attached to it:

) Pick up the nearest book.
2) Open to page 123.
3) Locate the fifth sentence.
4) Post the next three sentences on your blog and in so doing…
5) Tag five people, and acknowledge who tagged you.

I tend to dislike these sorts of things but the meme was easy enough and didn’t require much thinking on my part so I took Richard up and his offer and in the end I was happy to be invited to participate.

At the time that I got Richard’s email the nearest book laying next to me was an autographed hardback copy of Annie Nightingale’s biography Wicked Speed that I bought at a Tower Records store when I was in London in 2000. Annie Nightingale was Britain’s first female DJ and she’s a fascinating woman who has mixed and mingled with many of Britain’s best bands. After writing my recent post about The Mod Musicals of Lance Comfort I’ve had the early days of British pop music and radio on my mind so I had recently been revisiting Nightingale’s book. From the book description:

“Britain’s first female DJ. A suburban schoolgirl whisked into the world of music, whose passion led her to the world of the Beatles, the Yarbirds, the Rolling Stones and the Who. As a young journalist she put herself on the line for young bands - and she’s still at it with Shaun Ryder, Primal Scream and Daft Punk, just to name a few.

Annie Nightingale became one of the hardcore “birds” of London’s growing Sixties pop-art scene. She got married, was a Cosmopolitan columnist, and had kids. She also had parties. But more than anything, she wanted to become a DJ on Radio 1 - hard in the days when the BBC was a male-dominated environment. Yet she won out in the end - and for years was alone in her field.”

Three sentences from page 123 of Wicked Speed:
“I’d be interviewing the Minister of Nuclear Procurement, say, and I’d address him by his first name, which would throw him completely, and ask him if he believed in God. Both Margret Thatcher’s children appeared on the show as guests; Carol was preferable of the two. French and Saunders, who were just starting out at the time, were also guests on Mailbag, in their newest guise as Duranies.”

When I bought Wicked Speed eight years ago I had no idea who Annie Nightingale was but I needed a quick read for the plane trip home and the book description sounded fascinating. I’ve been a fan of sixties era British rock and pop since I was just a kid (the first concert I ever attended was a Rolling Stones’ show when I was only 13 years old). I also briefly worked as a DJ myself in the late ’80s spinning dance music and popular club hits at a local nightspot so I was curious to learn more about “Britain’s first female DJ.”

Annie Nightingale is not a great storyteller and if you’re bothered by run-on sentences you should probably avoid it. The book also lacks an index, which is especially annoying if you’re someone like me who wants easy access to her entertaining stories about interviewing a bored Sean Connery after he had just completed the first James Bond film or driving Scott Walker’s Mini Cooper. But if you enjoy all the name dropping Nightingale does and are interested in what life was like for the first female DJ in Britain, Annie Nightingale’s Wicked Speed is an entertaining and quick read.

I hate the idea of “tagging” anyone but if the following people would like to participate please feel free to!

Tagged:
Jeremy Richey at Moon in the Gutter
Jonathan Lapper at Cinema Styles
Peter Nellhaus at Coffee, coffee and more coffee
Tenebrous Kate at Love Train for the Tenebrous Empire
Robert Monell at I’m in a Jess Franco State of Mind

Now on to Cinebeats’ irregular scheduled programming . . .

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All the News That’s Fit to Print

by Kimberly Lindbergs | August 11, 2007

Categories | News, Comedies, Cinedelica, Sean Connery, Irvin Kershner

A semi-nude and tattooed Sean Connery in A Fine Madness (1966)

August Movie Review Roundup . . .

Last month my computer suffered a major meltdown and had to be replaced, which really slowed down my writing. I was only able to complete one review for Cinedelica last month and that was for Irvin Kershner’s dark comedy A Fine Madness (1966) which stars a rather young and super cute Sean Connery. I had mixed (mostly negative) reactions to the film, but if you’re curious about Kershner’s early work or just want to see Connery in his prime, A Fine Madness is well worth a look.

- My review of A Fine Madness

Read All About It . . .

Adam Ross who runs the terrific DVD Panche blog was nice enough to ask me to be interviewed for his ongoing “Friday Screen Test” and I happily agreed. If you’d like to find out a little more about me you can find my answers to Adam’s questions at his blog.

- My Friday Screen Test

Every Picture Tells a Story . . .

Before my computer suffered a meltdown I was able to send the guys who run the great If Charlie Parker was a Gunslinger, there’d be a whole lot of dead copycats blog a bunch of images that had been languishing on my computer for their “Contributor Week” which I believe is still going strong. If you’re interested in checking out my contributions as well as all other great submissions stop by the blog and give them a look.

-If Charlie Parker was a Gunslinger, there’d be a whole lot of dead copycats

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Vive La France!

by Kimberly Lindbergs | May 17, 2007

Categories | News, Books, French Cinema, Cannes 60th Anniversary, Alain Delon, Jean-Luc Godard, Sean Connery, Monica Vitti, Roman Polanski

The Cannes Film Festival turns 60 this week and that’s reason enough to celebrate all things fabulous and French, so I plan on doing just that throughout the next week until the festival wraps up.

I haven’t come across many books written about the early days of Cannes but I can recommend Cannes - Fifty Years of Sun, Sex & Celluloid: Behind the Scenes at the World’s Most Famous Film Festival compiled by the editors of Variety. This thin cheap large-format paperback book only has 96 pages and it’s put together like some scrapbook that you might come across in a film critics old file cabinet. It contains lots of great black and white photos of directors and actors, plus news clippings and articles about the festival written by various journalists and critics between 1946 and 1996. This is not an in-depth look at the history of Cannes, but if you’re looking for some quick and interesting reading about the film festival with lots if pretty pics, the book is definitely worth picking up.

Here’s a few examples of the writing you can find in Cannes - Fifty Years of Sun, Sex & Celluloid: Behind the Scenes at the World’s Most Famous Film Festival:

Employees of the French film industry take to the streets in protest (1968)

Barricade ‘68: The Day They Seized the Celluloid
by Penelope Houston (Sight & Sound)

“May 18, 1968 - The day the brakes were slammed on the 21st Cannes Film Festival. In Paris, the students had carried their grievances from their suburban campuses onto the city streets. The barricades went up and riot police moved in. A rather frail alliance between students and workers brought waves of strikes. For a few days, it seemed that France really might be balancing on the edge of revolution. And in Cannes, predictably, they launched their revolution with a press conference.

François Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard presided over the conference on the morning of May 18. These were filmmakers who had been most active three months earlier in the battle of the Cinematheque Francaise, when Arts Minister Andre Malraux sacked Henri Langlois, the powerfully charismatic founder and head of the Cinematheque. Langlois was reinstated, though with reduced powers, after a protest that involved the French film community, filmmakers from around the world, the major American companies and an interesting sprinkling of left-wingers. Journalists expected Truffaut and Godard to use the publicity spotlight of Cannes and the impetus of the Cinematheque triumph to press their grievances against the Gaullist film establishment. They were in for a shock.

Truffaut and Godard called an immediate halt to the festival, to show solidarity with students and workers and as a response to the national crisis. The occasion was well-timed. Jurors Louis Malle, Roman Polanski and Monica Vitti were on hand to announce their own resignations. French filmmakers promised to withdraw their films; others, including Milos Forman and Carlos Saura, joined them. Still others jumped up to say they would have withdrawn their films if they had been in competition, which unfortunately they were not. I bumped into Richard Lester, hurrying to record his protest. This being the year of flower power and gurus, the British director was wearing what at first looked like a white frock, but what in fact was an Indian-style tunic. Somehow, this rig seemed to fit the surrealism of the day.”

Sydney Pollack and Robert Redford at Cannes promoting Jeremiah Johnson (1972)

May 12, 1972 - Sunshine, Darkness, Nixon, Schizophrenia.
by Charles Champlin (L. A. Times)

“There is something bizarre and conceivably lunatic about coming to the sun-bleached shores of the Mediterranean with a total commitment to darkness

Along the Criosette, the local ladies are airing the local poodles and the international wanderers, vagabonds in jeans, already have spread displays of brass and silver jewelry, leather work and watercolors on the sidewalks. At the outdoor cafe alongside the Palais, the day’s debut has already begun over cups of coffee the color and texture of the Mississippi in flood tide.

The cinema is packed but even the early arrivals sit down front. Godard and the New Wave critics made it an article of faith that film should be a total, enveloping and developing experience, seen from as close up as vertebrae and eyeballs will allow.

Into the sunshine again briefly for lunch at one of the sidewalk cafes. A salade Nicoise and some eau minerale, in a desperate move to prevent the festival from becoming a total caloric disaster.

Back into the darkness again. The stage of the Palais theater has been set with artificial grass and flowers arranged to spell out XXV, this being the 25th festival, though it is the 26th year (1968 was a no-show). The plastic plants have an eerie glow in the dim light, hinting that nothing real any longer exists anywhere. There is a kind of urgent rustling of newspapers; half the waiting audience is reading accounts of the Nixon speech. The feelings of unreality are deepened.

The movie is Robert Altman’s Images, the Irish entry in festival mostly because it was filmed there. Susannah York plays a children’s author in advanced stages of paranoid schizophrenia, hearing voices, seeing dead lovers and being bedeviled by glimpses of her own accusing self. It is a dazzling piece of moviemaking and mood-spinning.”

Alain Delon, Sophia Loren & Romy Schneider brave the crowds at Cannes (1962)

There’s some great old clips from Cannes floating around Youtube that I highly recommend giving a look:

1962 - A feature about pretty aspiring starlettes who come to Cannes with hope of becoming the next Brigitte Bardot. François Truffaut is interviewed and a beat band plays.

1965 - A young and very cute Sean Connery, along with the beautiful Claudine Auger, at Cannes promoting the latest James Bond film Thunderball.

1970 - Lots of footage of the festival featuring the lovely Candice Bergen, who is also interviewed.

1973 - The beautiful diva Diana Ross in Cannes promoting Lady Sings The Blues.

1979 - Francis Ford Coppola explains Apocalypse Now to the press at Cannes.

More vintage clips from Cannes can be found at the wonderful TSR Archives site.

Extra reading:

Girish - On Henri Langlois.

Moon In The Gutter - On Life with Truffaut’s Antoine Doinel.

Flickhead - The fabulous Claude Chabrol Project

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