Ik ben Jozef
Ik ben een man en woon in Antipolo City (Filipijnen) en mijn beroep is verkoper van boeken, dvd`s, vhs, cd`s, stripverhalen enz,.
Ik ben geboren op 20/01/1957 en ben nu dus 55 jaar jong.
Mijn hobby's zijn: films, muziek, literatuur, stripverhalen, .
Georges Simenon werd geboren in 1903 in Luik (Belgie) en overleed in 1989 in Lausanne (Zwitserland). Hij is een van 's werelds meest gelezen en meest verfilmde schrijvers.
Afhankelijk van diverse bronnen schreef hij zowat tweehonderd vijftig tot vijfhonderd romans en korte verhalen, zowel onder zijn eigen naam als onder diverse pseudoniemen zoals Georges Sim, Christian Brulls, Gom Gut, Georges d'Isly, Jean du Perry,
Jean Dorsage, Jacques Dorsonne, Luc Dorsan, Georges Martin, Georges en
Gaston Vialis.. Ik veronderstel dat het een hele klus is voor biografen om het allemaal samen te stellen en te duiden volgens jaartal en oorsprong. Vele van die zogenaamde romans zijn uiteraard nogal kort: minder dan of ongeveer tweehonderd pagina's en naarmate Simenon ouder werd, werden de romans altijd maar korter, tot honderdvijftig pagina's of daaromtrent met wijde interlinies . Voor Amerikaanse maatstaven zijn dat korte romans of zelfs novellen, voor Belgische maatstaven zijn het volwaardige romans. Het hangt er maar vanaf: als je het kunt gezegd krijgen in honderd en een beetje pagina's, waarom er dan vijfhonderd schrijven ? Laten we ook niet uit het oog verliezen dat Simenon niet met een wordprocessor schreef, maar met ouderwetse potloden op papier... Volgens sommige bronnen schreef Simenon zestig tot tachtig pagina's per dag... Waarschijnlijk enigszins overdreven, want als hij dat inderdaad had gedaan, kon hij op het einde van elke week wel een manuscript naar de uitgever sturen... In de vroege jaren dertig schreef hij de eerste roman in een reeks van Maigret detectiveverhalen die uiteindelijk meer dan honderd titels zouden beslaan (romans en bundelingen van korte verhalen). Daarnaast schreef hij psychologische romans die, volgens critici, wat diepgaander zijn dan de Maigret-verhalen, wat gedeeltelijk waar is. Gedeeltelijk omdat de psychologische romans uiteraard wat meer psychologisch uitgebalanceerd lijken en soms zijn, gedeeltelijk omdat de voornaamste personages in de Maigret-verhalen (afzonderlijk gezien van Jules Maigret en zijn vaste entourage van inspecteurs, zijn vrouw, de wetsdokter, de procureur enz.) eigenlijk niet verschillen van de personages in de psychologische romans. Het zijn steevast "kleine" mensen (klein vooral door hun middelen en beroepen) of mensen uit de middenklasse (die het iets beter hebben dan de kleinen omwille van hun middelen en beroepen). Van tijd tot tijd schreef Simenon over 'rijke' mensen, die dan weer steevast komen uit arme of middenklas milieus en zich opgewerkt hebben tot succesrijke zakenmensen door volharding, koppigheid en genadeloosheid tegenover anderen. Vaak zijn de protagonisten getrouwd met onderdanige vrouwen die de mannelijke hoofdfiguren niet gelukkiger maken, soms zijn zij getrouwd met vrouwen uit rijkere milieus dan zijzelf die hen evenmin gelukkig maken, vaak zijn er families (eigen of van hun echtgenotes) uit andere milieus die hen ook al niet gelukkig maken. Het universum van Georges Simenon is er een van "in de val gelopen te zijn": door zichzelf, door omstandigheden, door huwelijk, door familie, door het willen ophouden van een facade tegenover de buitenwereld ondanks alles. Zijn universum is er een van herkenbare personages. Het is typisch Belgisch of Frans, het dateert typisch uit de jaren dertig, veertig, vijftig en zestig, maar het klinkt nog altijd door in de 21ste eeuw. Zoveel is er niet veranderd in de menselijke psychologie om het compleet uit de mode te lichten en ik veronderstel dat de romans van Georges Simenon over honderd jaar en meer nog steeds gretig zullen gelezen worden omdat de personages erin reeel zijn. Het succes van de films, gebaseerd op zijn verhalen, is makkelijk te verklaren: geen noodzaak aan dure sets, costumering, speciale effecten. Het enige noodzakelijke is een goed scenario (basisgewijze alreeds voorzien door de schrijver zelf, en door scriptwriters te vertalen in filmscenario's), enkele degelijke acteurs en actrices die de ogenschijnlijke simpliciteit van de verhalen kunnen overstijgen door hun vertolkingen en daarnaast wat het budget voor de film toelaat: wat auto's uit de jaren dertig, veertig, vijftig (indien dat noodzakelijk is), enigerlei costumering uit voornoemde jaren indien alles dan wel toch een beetje moet overeenstemmen enz. Uiteraard kostte dat laatste minder in de jaren veertig en vijftig toen men enkele Maigret-romans met de Franse superster Jean Gabin in de titelrol verfilmde. De enige belangrijke kostprijs toen zal wel het salaris van Jean Gabin geweest zijn. Films gebaseerd op boeken van Georges Simenon gaan al terug tot 1932: La nuit du carrefour (geregisseerd door Jean Renoir, met zijn oudere broer Pierre Renoir als Maigret). Daarna: Cecile est morte (1944), geregisseerd door Maurice Tourneur, met Albert Prejean als Maigret; The Man on the Eiffel Tower (1949), geregisseerd door Burgess Meredith, met Charles Laughton als Maigret; La neige etait sale (1954), geregisseerd door Luis Saslavsky, met Daniel Gelin; Maigret tend un piege (1958), geregisseerd door Jean Delannoy, met Jean Gabin als Maigret; Maigret et l'affaire Saint-Fiacre (1959), geregisseerd door Jean Delannoy, met Jean Gabin als Maigret; En cas de malheur (1959), geregisseerd door Claude Autant-Lara, met Jean Gabin en Brigitte Bardot; Le president (1961), geregisseerd door Henri Verneuil, met Jean Gabin; Le bateau d'Emile (1962), geregisseerd door Denys de la Patelliere, met Lino Ventura; Maigret voit rouge (1963), geregisseerd door Gilles Grangier, met Jean Gabin als Maigret; Trois chambres a Manhattan (1963), geregisseerd door Marcel Carne, met Maurice Ronet; Le chat (1971), geregisseerd door Pierre Granier-Deferre, met Jean Gabin en Simone Signoret; La veuve Couderc (1971), geregisseerd door Pierre Granier-Deferre, met Alain Delon en Simone Signoret; Le train (1973), geregisseerd door Pierre Granier-Deferre, met Jean-Louis Trintignant en Romy Schneider; L'horloger de Saint-Paul (1974), geregisseerd door Bertrand Tavernier, met Philippe Noiret; L'etoile du nord (1982), geregisseerd door Pierre Granier-Deferre, met Philippe Noiret en Simone Signoret; Les fantomes du chapelier (1982), geregisseerd door Claude Chabrol, met Michel Serrault en Charles Aznavour: Monsieur Hire (1989), geregisseerd door Patrice Leconte, met Michel Blanc; L'inconnu dans la maison (1992), geregisseerd door Georges Lautner, met Jean-Paul Belmondo; L'ours en peluche (1994), geregisseerd door Jacques Deray, met Alain Delon en Lauren Bacall; Feux rouges (2004), geregisseerd door Cedric Kahn, met Carole Bouquet. De lijst is niet volledig en wenst dat ook niet te zijn. Het is gewoon een opsomming van 'enkele' verfilmingen gebaseerd op romans van Georges Simenon.
Uiteraard worden de verfilmingen (ahthans voor de bioscoop) minder en minder; de boeken van Simenon lenen zich niet voor de traditionele films van tegenwoordig met veel explosies, veel macho-talk en weinig substantie. Wanneer er een verhaal van Simenon verfilmd wordt is dat thans meestal een televisiefilm, met meestal onbekende acteurs en actrices of met een acteur of actrice die al gedurende een decennium op pensioen was maar nog eens een eenmalige vertolking waagt. Ik denk niet dat er nog veel 'grote' verfilmingen gebaseerd op romans van Simenon te wachten staan, althans niet voor de bioscoop, tenzij Luc Besson een scenario kan bedenken gebaseerd op een roman van Simenon met veel explosies, nog meer explosies en explosies tot in het absurde... Televisiefilms zullen er nog wel komen en misschien ooit nog eens een nieuwe televisieserie over Maigret.
Henri Vernes is het grote idool van mijn jeugdjaren. Hij is de schrijver van de Bob Morane-reeks waarvan er al zo'n 200 titels zijn verschenen sinds de vroege jaren vijftig. Minder dan de helft daarvan werden ook in het Nederlands vertaald. In eerste instantie waren het vooral de Nederlandse vertalingen die ik las. Daarna kwamen de stripverhalen. Nog later volgden er televiefeuilletons, animated series, videogames enz. Het oorspronkelijke televisiefeuilleton met Claude Titre als Bob Morane en Billy Kearns als Bill Ballantine (bestaande uit 26 afleveringen elk van zowat 30 minuten) werd uitgezonden in 1965 op ORTF, heruitgezonden in 1972 en in 1988.Bob Morane was de held in de verhalen, maar de schrijver Henri Vernes was eigenlijk mijn idool. Hierna volgt een kort interview met hem, afgenomen in 2007 (in het Frans):
Depuis
1953, « l’aventurier » parcourt la planète dans des aventures qui ont
inspiré Michaël Crichton et incarné un type particulier de héros de
bande dessinée. Rencontre avec son créateur, Henri Vernes, 92 ans et
toujours en verve.
Dans quelles circonstances avez-vous créé Bob Morane en 1953 ?
L’éditeur de Marabout, Jean-Jacques Schellens, voulait faire une
série de romans pour jeunes avec un personnage récurrent. On m’a demandé
de le faire. J’en ai fait un premier, et plus de 200 autres depuis.
Le concept de l’aventurier s’est imposé comment ?
On lui a trouvé un nom, on lui donné un physique. Et au cours des
romans, il s’est un peu précisé physiquement et moralement, un petit peu
au hasard, comme nous tous, nous grandissons un peu au hasard aussi.
D’où vient le nom, du constructeur d’avions ?
Non. Cela vient du nom que prend un guerrier Masaï quand il a tué son
premier lion. Il devient alors un « Morane ». J’avais aussi une
connaissance qui était un peintre du dimanche et qui signait Morane. Le
prénom de « Robert » vient de ce que son diminutif était « Bob », un
prénom qui faisait bien en ce temps-là. Aucun lien avec les avions, mais
le hasard fait bien les choses.
Quand Bob Morane est devenu un phénomène de société ?
Ça l’a été à
une époque. Ses aventures ont appris à lire à beaucoup de gens. À une
époque quand on disait Marabout, on pensait Bob Morane, et l’inverse.
Est-ce que, selon vous, Bob Morane est daté aujourd’hui, un peu comme 0SS 117 ?
Dans le cas de 0SS 117, oui, car cet organisme ne s’appelle plus OSS
117 qui était le nom des services secrets américains pendant la Seconde
Guerre mondiale. Aujourd’hui, c’est la CIA. Donc là, il est daté. Tandis
que Bob Morane n’est pas daté, même si certaines de ses aventures le
sont car elles se passent à une époque qui n’existe plus. Depuis
cinquante ans, beaucoup de choses ont changé. Je n’ai jamais vraiment
arrêté d’en écrire. Je n’ai jamais été en panne d’inspiration : il se
passe tellement de choses. Et puis, j’avoue, je me répète de temps en
temps aussi…
Vous faites la joie des collectionneurs.
Oui, il y en a qui stockent, qui revendent le livre plus cher une
fois épuisé. Je connais le truc ! je viens de voir une édition anglaise
de Bob Morane qui cote 50 euros. Je n’ai pas de droits d’auteur
là-dessus !
Vous avez fait avec vos personnages des scénarios inédits pour la bande dessinée. Qu’est-ce qui vous a amené à la BD ?
C’est Femmes d’Aujourd’hui, un hebdomadaire féminin, qui m’a demandé d’en faire. J’ai dit : Pourquoi pas ? Et j’en ai fait, c’est tout.
Il y en a près de 60, quand même.
Oui. Le premier écueil a été d’incarner Bob Morane. Il y avait Pierre Joubert qui dessinait mes couvertures. Dino Attanasio a été le premier à en faire des bandes dessinées, puis William Vance, Gérald Forton, Coria… Chacun l’a un peu interprété à sa manière. Cela ne me dérange pas : les James Bond sont aussi interprétés différemment selon l’acteur qui l’incarne.
On a posé la question pour Tintin ou pour Astérix, est-ce que vous
voyez après vous quelqu’un reprendre la destinée du personnage ?
Je n’en ai rien à foutre !
Ook al geeft hij er geen bliksem om wat er met Bob Morane zal gebeuren na zijn dood, ook al lees ik niet zo vaak meer zijn boeken, Henri Vernes blijft ergens voor mij een legendarische schrijver. Ik hoop dat hij 100 jaar mag worden (of meer) en doorgaat met schrijven.
No Blade of Grass (UK, 1970). Directed by Cornel Wilde. Based on a story by John Christopher. Cast: Nigel Davenport, Jean Wallace, Wendy Richard, George Coulouris, Anthony Sharp, John Hamill, Anthony May, Ronald Neame.
The story is an intriguing one, and fascinating as to how is constantly seem
to show no hope, no promise. There are some powerful scenes here.
Unfortunately, director Cornel Wilde was not the right choice here. Yes, he
does get some powerful scenes, but there are a number of annoyances. He
shows endless shots of polluted rivers, garbage, dead animals, etc. wich is pretty much what the story is about, but it is done randomly and it does not make the storyline go anywhere. I know there was a big ecology kick
going on at the time, but that's no excuse. There are a number of flash-forwards that spoil events that happen
later in the movie. What was the point of ruining these plot turns for the viewers? There is even a flash-forward wich nevers really happens in the movie, maybe because it was censored, maybe because the producers felt a running time of about 95 minutes was enough. Period. Some scenes go by at a rapid-fire pace, or seem to have been cut
before they completely played out.Many scenes seems to be like anecdotes in the story for no particular reason. When scenes get exciting, like the attack of motorcycle bikers (clad in a sort a viking-helmets !) it goes into western movie territory where indians are attacking cowboys and are shot one by one because the cowboys hide themselves behind big rocks and the indians are just attacking without defense and take it for granted that their numbers will do the job... Some of the cowboys are shot as well, but only because the indians can aim a rifle from time to time and know how to shoot with it too... Near at the end of the movie the protagonists, accompanied by a large following of desperate English villagers, arrive at a fortress and heavily secured piece of land, occupied by the brother of the hero. who refuses to let them come in (because lack of food). So they set up a siege, attack the fortress, wich is defended by a gatling gun in a watchtower, by night and kills everyone inside, including the brother of the hero. Classic cowboys and indians-stuff. So it's not a great film. However, the story is what's interesting, and what
will probably make the movie worth watching to viewers, provided they have
patience. (If they can find it - it's not on video, unfortunately.) Plus,
even though it's a little corny, it'll be hard for me to shake that haunting
title song out of my head.
Murder by Decree (1979, UK/Canada). Directed by Bob Clark. Cast: Christopher Plummer, James Mason, David Hemmings, Donald Sutherland, Anthony Quayle, Frank Finlay, Susan Clark, Genevieve Bujold, John Gielgud.
Sherlock Holmes (Plummer) investigates London's most infamous case, Jack the
Ripper. As he investigates, he finds that the Ripper has friends in high
places.
"Murder by Decree" is the most special and unclassifiable Sherlock
Holmes movie ever made. The script actually takes the fictional
characters created by Arthur Conan Doyle and places them amidst all the
convoluted speculations and grotesque conspiracy theories surrounding
the mystery of the unsolved Jack the Ripper murders. "A Study in
Terror"(1965, directed by James Hill with John Neville as Holmes) was the first attempt to blend the characters of Holmes and
Jack the Ripper, nearly fifteen years earlier, but Bob Clark's
film digs a whole lot deeper and makes a lot more efforts to come
across as plausible and convincing. In 1988 Michael Caine starred in a television movie in 2 parts called Jack The Ripper, directed by David Wickes, wich tackles the same subject: the infamous Jack the Ripper murders in Victorian London could have been perpetrated by a member of the ruling monarchy. Michael Caine however did not portray Sherlock Holmes in that movie and the legendary sleuth never comes in. "Murder by Decree" is a unique
Sherlock Holmes film for yet another reason, namely the depiction of the heroic protagonists. Christopher Plummer portrays the most humane
Holmes in history, with a regular sense of humor instead of witty
remarks that ooze with superiority as well as feelings like sadness and
compassion. He even wipes away an emotional teardrop at one point wich is so unusual for the Holmes-character that it almost becomes blasphemy. Then again: in Billy Wilder's The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970) Robert Stephens portrays also a Holmes wiho can be emotional (just take a look at the very last scene in that movie...). Plummer portrayed Holmes before: in a Canadian television movie Silver Blaze (1977). There is James Mason illustrating the most
anti-stereotypical Dr.Watson ever, as his lines and contributions are
sharp and savvy instead of silly. And apart from them, there is a whole lining-up of famous British and Canadian actors and actresses in supporting roles. Sherlock Holmes is called in for help
by the Whitechapel store owners after the third Jack the Ripper murder.
The crimes are despicable and the locals fear that the police aren't
making enough efforts to capture the killer since the victims are
"only" prostitutes working in a poor London neighborhood. Thanks to his
amazing investigating talents, careful observing senses and stupendous
deductive skills, Holmes gradually uncovers a complex conspiracy that
almost solely involves elite culprits like politicians, Freemasons and
even British royals. He has to operate with extreme caution, though, as
his investigation might lead the Ripper to more targeted victims. The
script of "Murder by Decree" is clever. Too clever, in fact, as I
presume you're not even supposed to guess along for the Ripper's
identity. Holmes is always several steps ahead of you and the film ends
with a long monologue in which the detective explains the entire
murderous scheme – in great detail – to a trio of eminent conspirators.
Although puzzling, the story remains fascinating and absorbing the
whole time. Bob Clark, a multi-talented genre director especially in
the seventies (Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things, 1973, Black Christmas, 1974) , also masterfully captures the exact right Victorian
ambiance. The film is literally filled with dark and foggy London
alleys, uncanny old taverns and marvelous horse carriages.
NYPD
Detective Dewey Wilson (Finney) is assigned to solve a bizarre set of
violent murders in which it appears the victims were killed by animals.
In his investigation, Wilson learns of an Indian legend about wolf
spirits, and that there may be predatory shapeshifters living in the vicinity. The Wolfen are not werewolves, but in fact a more advanced version of a wolf which sat above man on the food chain.
Production
The film is known for its early use of an in-camera effect to portray the subjective POV of a wolf. Similar to thermography, the technique was later adopted by other horror films such as the Predator series.
The setting for the transient home of the wolves was shot in the
South Bronx (intersection of Louis Nine Boulevard & Boston Road). The
church seen in the opening panorama shot was located at the intersection
of E 172nd & Seabury Pl. The shot of this neighborhood is from the
north looking roughly S - SE. The decrepit site of ruined buildings was
no special effect. The church was built (and burned) especially for the
filmUrban decay
in the Bronx in the early 1980s was so widespread that it was the ideal
production setting. Today, this community contains mostly
suburban-style privately owned houses.
Another movie about werewolves, this time with distinguished actors as Albert Finney (who was already on the booze, by then) and Edward James Olmos (who was or was not on the booze but looked sorry for not being on the booze if he was not already).
It is a bit different from other werewolf-movies, and it's not bad, but countless of movies in the same categorie were already made before on a less expensive budget and would go on to be made afterwards.
It's probably a movie you going to see one time, maybe you will like it one time and then, matter-of-factlike, you don.t like it afterwards anymore. For anyone who is a fan of any of the lead actors: they starred in better productions. For anyone who is fan of horror movies: this is maybe just a tad above the mediocre.
Unlike Stephen King, Whitley Strieber novels were never translated very succesfully into movies.
Tout feu, tout flamme (France, 1982). Directed by Jean-Paul Rappenau. Cast: Yves Montand, Isabelle Adjani, Lauren Hutton, Alain Souchon. On imdb.com somebody named Lalit Rao wrote the following review about this film: "Yves Montand was a French film star of the black and white era. Isabelle Adjani has been the French film star of the colored era.This is for the first time that they have starred together. The result is a shocker.Both of them shine wonderfully well in a film about gambling house.The views around Lac Leman in Switzerland are nice.The unique thing about this film is that although it is an entertainer it has not neglected the message related to family values.This is a very unique role for Yves Montand as he has always played lover boy roles for the most part of his career.In this film he plays a father who is mostly away from home for some secret work. It is revealed through various twists and turns of the plot that he wants to make a casino. This is a good film for people wishing to watch a film with their family. Admirers of author cinema will be a little disappointed as Rappeneau touch is not same as that of other authors."
I don't know how many movies with Yves Montand this person has seen. I saw many. Yves Montand started in b/w movies, yes (Le salaire de la peur (1953, directed by George-Henri Clouzot) for example. Maybe in a few movies he played "a lover boy" but only a few times and never in the same vein as Louis Jourdan, who made most of his carreer in the USA and was considered a French lover, mostly to his own dismay. Yves Montand was for most of his carreer a more intellectual actor and choose his roles carefully. He was born in 1921 so he was 61 years old when he played the role of the father in Tout feu, tout flamme (hardly an age when one is considered old especially when most governments say nowadays that everybody will have to work at least till 65 before retirement can be contemplated)... The movie is NOT a shocker, but it's a nice comedy wich gives Yves Montand and Isabelle Adjani plenty to do to show their talents. The movie will NOT be appreciated by American audiences who are not familiar with French or foreign movies, so it's certainly not a good family movie for American audiences. It was OK for European audiences who were used to this kind of movies at that era and who wanted to see every movie Yves Montand was appearing in, because he was a BIG star. Tout feu, tout flamme was succesful at the European boxoffice. Director Jean-Paul Rappenau is hardly known in the USA, but made many box-office hits in his time: Les maries de l'an II (1971) with Jean-Paul Belmondo, Le magnifique (1973, only screenplay) again with Jean-Paul Belmondo, Le sauvage (1975) with Yves Montand, Cyrano de Bergerac (1990) with Gerard Depardieu.. Tout feu, tout flamme is a movie wich was made in an era that is now almost forgotten. An era when French movies were more important to European audiences then American movies.
If you have time, take a look at another movie-blog: www.fanbox/Movies11.com
Only a few days ago I read 2 reviews on imdb.com about two French films; L'aventure, c'est l'aventure from 1972 and L'africain from 1983. The review on the first movie was apparently written in 2010 by somebody from France, the second review was apparently written in 2003 by somebody from Austria. The two reviews follows here:
- 15 June 2010 | by Film-critic Lalit Rao (France)
"Veteran film directors messieurs Claude Lelouch and Jean Pierre Mocky are absolutely unique in the field of French cinema.Both of them have created their own organizations to promote films which bear their trademark styles of cinema.Claude Lelouch has made his films with his production company "Les Films 13" which was founded in 1961.Jean Pierre Mocky screens his films at his own cinema "Le Brady".These two directors are also famous in France and outside of France as they have been unjustly ignored by French press which has always shown a certain kind of preference for American cinema.However,these two directors have been able to make good films entirely due to their fans' loyalty and for them film making is a never ending adventure.This is exactly the case with "L'aventure, c'est l'aventure" /"The Adventure/It is the adventure" There is no denying that this film was a huge adventure both for Claude Lelouch and for his brilliant cast.Although the film was made in 1972, it is still very much relevant in 2010 as its entertainment value is cherished by everyone including those who lived through turbulent 1970s. "L'aventure,C'est L'Aventure" is a great entertaining film with an important message.It suggests that all criminals have to pay for their crimes regardless of all kinds of hilarious adventures they might experience in their reckless lives.In some ways it can be said that this film's rocking success is due to Claude Lelouch's deliberately omission of any kind of politically correct stance.Neither the director not the audiences fall into any kind of artistic trap as this film's message is clear and loud-to entertain masses at any cost.PS : Film critic Lalit Rao would like to thank a good friend Mr.Philippe Pham for having gifted a DVD of this film for detailed analysis."
- 11 January 2003 | by eva25at (Vienna, Austria)
"Most of the time, "L'Africain" is a delightful film. The storyline is thin but the actors carry it with panache and the scenery is spectacular. Charlotte (Catherine Deneuve) flies to East-Africa in order to build a touristic center near the Lake Williams where the pygmys live. Here she meets her husband Victor (Philippe Noiret), a devoted conservationist who left her three years ago to live in the jungle. Can you imagine his enthusiasm when she arrives at the conclusion that the ideal place to built this holiday resort is his kitchen garden? A sacrilege in his eyes! But even his good buddy, the british stewart who is always prepared to do him a good turn quickly becomes a convert after Charlotte makes eyes at him and allows her to explore the country. From then on, Charlotte and Victor have to deal with herds of elephants, villainous ivory smugglers and voracious crocodiles. They sail on the African Queen II and meet the pygmys at last. What I liked especially about this film apart from the performances was the fact that it bears no similarity with the usual Hollywood products like "Out of Africa". This film is completely irreverent and offers an amusingly malicious look at the remains of the colonial age long past gone, like the threadbare elegance of the "Grand Hotel de Paris" where Victor, dressed in his smoking, consumes his oysters. However, I have to add a warning: This film may hurt sensibilities. Don't expect of a french film of 1983 to apply the same standards of political correctness as a U.S. release of 2003. The natives in this film live in rusty iron-shacks, and when Deneuve complains at one point that they are poor, Noiret replies: "Shall we put them in social homes and feed them hamburgers?" Political incorrectness or gallows humor? The language is salty at times: When Noiret falls in a torrential river after villains cut the ropes of a rope-bridge, Deneuve shouts:"I was so afraid because of you. Why didn't you make me a child?" However, if you can do without political correctness for the duration of this film, you will rather enjoy this comedy, if only for the sake of its two very funny stars."
What strikes me most is that both reviews are first about political correctness of French movies in comparison to American movies, then about the movies in themself. French movies were always different from American movies in points of political correctness through dialogue, situations and moral standards. Around the same time The sound of Music was made in Hollywood, USA by Robert Wise (it came out in 1965) Le journal d'une femme de chambre was made in France by Luis Bunuel (1964). Just as an example of how moral standards, dialogues and political correctness can differ in two movies made more or less around the same time in different countries. Luis Bunuel was without any doubt an artistic genius. Robert Wise was a skillful craftsman. Claude Lelouch is not an artistic genius like Luis Bunuel but at least he is a director who took the French cinema into new directions. Philippe de Broca was a skillful craftsman like Robert Wise. The skillful craftsmen mentioned above usually made very big box office-hits, while the more artistically orientated directors made a name for themselves. The political correctness in their movies is, to my opinion, of little importance or, at least, should not be exaggerated. Any of these movies is important only because they were made (some of them more important then others); some of them can be art, most of them are only moneymakers. Ofcourse even products of moneymaking can be art and certainly they can be examples of political correctness. So what is the point of the two reviewers ? That the two above mentioned movies are different from American movies because they are French. What is my point ? Who cares as long as these movies are watchable enough to give audience a good time watching them.
Witchfinder General (UK, 1968) Directed by Michael Reeves. Cast: Vincent Price, Ian Ogilvy, Hilary Dwyer. The screenplay was by Reeves and Tom Baker based on Ronald Bassett's novel of the same name. Made on a low budget of under £100,000, the movie was coproduced by Tigon British Film Productions and American International Pictures. The story details the heavily fictionalized murderous witch-hunting exploits of Matthew Hopkins, a 17th century English lawyer who claimed to have been appointed as a "Witch-finder Generall" by Parliament during the English Civil War to root out sorcery and witchcraft. The film was retitled The Conqueror Worm in the United States in an attempt to link it with Roger Corman's earlier series of Edgar Allan Poe-related films starring Price—although this movie has nothing to do with any of Poe's stories, and only briefly alludes to his poem.
Director Reeves featured many scenes of intense onscreen torture and violence that were considered unusually sadistic at the time. Upon its theatrical release throughout the spring and summer of 1968, the movie’s gruesome content was met with disgust by several film critics in the UK, despite having been extensively censored by the British Board of Film Censors. In the U.S., the film was shown virtually intact and was a box office success, but it was almost completely ignored by reviewers.
The film has gradually developed a large cult following, partially attributable to Reeves’s 1969 death from a drug overdose at the age of 25, only nine months after Witchfinder’s release. Over the years, several prominent critics have championed the film, including J. Hoberman, Danny Peary, and Derek Malcolm. In 2005, the magazine Total Film named Witchfinder General the 15th greatest horror film of all time.
The most important fact to keep in mind is that the movie is not a horror film. Gruesome events take place, but so happens in real life. The movie is a fictionalized version of the "best years in the life of the witchfinder Matthew Hopkins". Without much doubt it influenced Piers Haggard's movie Blood on Satan's Claw (1970) as well as Ken Russell's movie The Devils (1971). It has a gritty realism in common with Blood on Satan's Claw, but not the supernatural apparitions in the Piers Haggard movie. It has torture scenes in common with The Devils, but not the obvious relish of the director in Ken Russell's movie. Vincent Price is completely serious in it, without his usual campiness, and delivers one his most accomplished roles. Ian Ogilvy is also very good as the dashing hero, but not impressive enough to make it big in Hollywood. Probably the nearest he came to stardom was as Simon Templar in the British television-series The Return of the Saint (1978-1979) but stepping comfortably in the shoes of Roger Moore who had played the same character for many years before was too difficult to do for Ogilvy. There are many gruesome scenes in Witchfinder General. Many of them were trimmed down but still it's not an easy movie to watch. Even with scenes censored, its grim. Above all: it has no humour. If it had have humour, the movie would not have been so intense. So they left the humour out. Michael Reeves was without any doubt a very talentful director who could have done many great movies if he had lived longer. Now it is his swansong. A marvellous way to end a carreer. Because many great directors die of old age and their last films are rarely as good as their earlier ones. Michael Reeves only made a few movies. Witchfinder General was his last and his best.
Theatre of Blood (UK, 1973) Directed by Douglas Hickox. Cast: Vincent Price, Diana Rigg, Ian Hendry. Plot: Edward Kendall Sheridan Lionheart (Vincent Price), had thought he was the greatest Shakespearean actor of his day. Abetted by his daughter Edwina (Diana Rigg), Lionheart sets about murdering, one by one, a group of critics who had both ridiculed his acting throughout his career and declined to award him their "Critic's Circle Award for Best Actor", which Lionheart felt was merited by his final season of performances in various Shakespearean plays; humiliated in the aftermath of the awards ceremony, he attempts suicide and is presumed dead. The cast includes such distinguished actors as Harry Andrews, Coral Browne, Robert Coote, Jack Hawkins, Michael Hordern, Arthur Lowe, Joan Hickson, Robert Morley, Milo O'Shea, Diana Dors and Dennis Price. Unbeknownst to the critics, and the police, Lionheart survives the suicide attempt and is adopted into a community of meths-drinking vagrants who do his bidding.
The manner of Lionheart's revenge on each critic is inspired by deaths of characters in the plays of Lionheart's last season of Shakespeare. In most cases the critic is first duped by Lionheart's acting initially to "play the part" before Lionheart's murderous intentions are revealed, followed by a forced recantation and an ironic, humiliating and grotesque dispatch of the critic. The first victim is butchered by a group of tramps on March 15 (the Ides of March), in a reenactment of the death of Julius Caesar. The next is speared and his corpse dragged behind a horse, the fate of Hector at the hands of Achilles in Troilus and Cressida. The Merchant of Venice is reworked so that Shylock gets a pound of flesh (a critic's heart). Other murders include: a drowning in a butt of wine, based on the murder of the Duke of Clarence in Richard III; the wife of one critic, who was drugged to sleep soundly, awakens next to her husband's decapitated body, as Imogen awoke to find the headless body of Cloten in Cymbeline; quasi-cannibalism — the effeminate Meredith Merridew is tricked into eating his "babies" (his beloved poodles) just as Queen Tamora was fed the flesh of her two sons, baked in a pie, in the climax of Titus Andronicus; one critic is tricked into believing his wife has been unfaithful, driving him to smother her in a jealous rage (i.e. Othello) and spend the rest of his life in prison; the sole female critic (played by Coral Browne, shortly to become Price's third and last wife) is electrocuted by hair curlers as Lionheart recites a passage in which Joan of Arc is burnt at the stake, "Spare for no fagots [bundles of sticks], let there be enough..." (from Henry VI, part 1). Many of the deaths are patterned to the weaknesses of the critics - the one that got his heart ripped out showed lusty behaviour earlier, the one drowned in wine is an alcoholic and a gluttonous person choked on pie while being force-fed. Each critic can be seen to represent one of the Seven Deadly Sins, with punishment fitting the particular sin. Some are more convincing and frightening than others.
A "duel" scene features Lionheart and the chief critic, Peregrine Devlin bouncing around on trampolines while slashing at one another with rapiers, in the manner of the swordfight between Tybalt and Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet. Lionheart uses this appearance to establish that he did indeed survive his suicide attempt, and thereby get his daughter, the police's chief suspect, released from custody and surveillance, to be falsely presumed the innocent daughter of a madman. Lionheart spares Devlin, who recognizes him and whom he needs to inform the police, as he intends to save Devlin, as head of the Critic's Circle, for last anyway.
The audience and sometime-participants in the mayhem are methylated spirit drinking vagrants, who saved Lionheart from drowning after his attempt at suicide by leaping into the river. As the cheap but toxic methylated spirits have damaged their senses, Lionheart finds them easy to manipulate to help him murder the critics. After the principal series of killings, one of these meths-drinkers is disguised as Lionheart as a diversion to lure the police away while the remaining critic Devlin is kidnapped. Police capture the drunk and using the lure of hard alcohol, get him to divulge the whereabouts of Lionheart.
The film ends following Lionheart's attempt to force the remaining critic, Peregrine Devlin, to present him with the "coveted" Critic's Circle Award for Best Actor. Taking the blinding of the Earl of Gloucester in King Lear as inspiration, Lionheart has arranged a contraption containing two red-hot daggers, which are poised to blind the critic should he refuse to recant and whom he will release otherwise. Devlin stands his ground despite the menace and refuses to change his original choice for the award. The slow-moving contraption is released; however, police sirens are heard outside and the device becomes stuck temporarily. Lionheart sets fire to the theater to thwart the police, who save Devlin just in the nick of time. In the confusion, one of the group of vagrants kills Edwina (i.e. the Cordelia-like devoted daughter), hitting her over the head with the award. Lionheart retreats, carrying Edwina's body to the roof and delivering Lear's final monologue just before the roof caves in and plunges, flaming, to his death. To this, Devlin comments "A remarkable performance. He was overacting as usual, but he knew how to make an exit."
In many respects, this is very much like The Abominable dr. Phibes (1970) also starring Vincent Price. The main character disposes of a lot of people in various gruesome ways because he seeks revenge for something wich happened in the past. The Abominable dr. Phibes was funny (although a bit slow at times) and because of the setpieces, costumes, music etc. a real gem in horrormovies. Vincent Price in it is bereft of his voice for most of the time, wich bereaves him also from one of his most convincing talents. Nonetheless it was and remains one of the most legendary movies Price made in a long list of succesful films. Theatre of Blood is also legendary. Vincent Price is in topform, has the ability of his voice in it (and the way he performs Shakespearean monologues is unique in itself); the movie is also sometimes funny, sometimes tongue-in-cheek (as most Vincent Price-vehicles), but often it is more gritty, more bloody, more gruesome compared to the Dr. Phibes-movie. Its closer to modern horror-movies in its choice of sets, decors, secondary charcters, situations than one should assume for a premisse wich have a lot to do with William Shakespeare. It shows again, I guess, that Shakespeare was such a universal literary genius he can be used for movies like this one. And in this movie there is still a great love and respect for W.S. There is also respect for silent movies (fragments of those are shown during the rolling of the credits at the beginning). There is a lot of mockery of critics (wich took already much wind from the sails of movie-critcs who were supposed to value this movie...). Diana Rigg (legendary by herself because of her portrayal of miss Emma Peel in the cult television-series The Avengers) provides nice support for Vincent Price. Ofcourse, this movie is and will for ever be a nearly one-man show for Price. All other actors and actresses in it are just there to give support to Vincent Price. Watch it, is my advice.
Peter Cushing remains one of Britain s best-loved film stars. Famous worldwide as Grand Moff Tarkin in Star Wars, Sherlock Holmes and the big screen Doctor Who, it is though for his performances in Hammer horror films that he is most fondly remembered. In 'Past Forgetting' Cushing tells the story of those two decades with Hammer and beyond, from his defining portrayals of Frankenstein and Van Helsing, to his experiences working alongside such greats as Laurence Olivier and Morecambe and Wise; to the love and loss of his wife Helen. Originally released in 1988, Cushing s own reading of 'Past Forgetting' has long been out of print. Now for the first time on CD, this edition features a bonus documentary featuring some of those who worked with Cushing, and new sleeve notes by The League of Gentlemen s Mark Gatiss.
The Return of Sherlock Holmes
Product details
Audio CD: 238 pages
Publisher: Cosmic Hobo Productions (7 Feb 2011)
Language English
ISBN-10: 0955515866
ISBN-13: 978-0955515866 Originally recorded in 1971, Peter Cushing's reading of The Return of Sherlock Holmes has never been released commercially before. This 4 CD edition has been digitally re-mastered from the original recording, and includes new sleeve notes by Holmes expert David Stuart Davies
The Blue Carbuncle (1968, UK). Directed by Bill Bain. In color. Cast: Peter Cushing, Nigel Stock, Madge Ryan, Michael Robbins. A blue carbuncle, a valuable jewel, is stolen from Lady Morcar, and an innocent workman charged and remanded in the run-up to Christmas. Holmes gets a visitor, a gentleman who belongs to a Christmas Club putting money by to purchase a goose for his Christmas dinner. Someone has tried to steal his goose. Another member of the club finds the carbuncle in the goose he has bought. Who put it there? Holmes must find out if one family is to avoid a miserable Yuletide. One of 6 episodes out of 16 made in the sixties by the BBC. 10 episodes seem to have been lost (due to fire in the studio archives, negligance or whatever). The remaining 6 episodes have surfaced again (in 2004) in a DVD-box, digitally remastered. Includes: The Hound of the Baskervilles (2 episodes), The Sign of Four, The Blue Carbuncle, A Study in Scarlet and The Boscombe Valley. Cushing and Stock are in topform as Holmes and Watson. It's a joy to behold.
Peter Cushing had a long and distinguished career as a stage and film actor, perhaps best remembered for his partnership with Christopher Lee in Hammer Studios long-running Dracula series. His first appearance as Sherlock Holmes was part of a planned series of Holmes films from Hammer Studios. 1958's The Hound of the Baskervilles was the first Sherlock Holmes film in colour. Although Hammer never did get a series under way, Cushing did portray Sherlock Holmes many more times for television, including yet another remake of The Hound of the Baskervilles.
A 16-part Sherlock Holmes television series was made in 1968 and 1969, including The Hound of the Baskervilles (2-part episode, July 7 and 14, 1968). It got Cushing's name as associated with the role as he was with Frankenstein and Van Helsing. Cushing was a replacement for Douglas Wilmer, who had starred in 13 episodes in 1964 and 1965:
"...[Later] I asked him how he had enjoyed doing the Holmes series. He replied tersely to the effect that he would rather sweep Paddington Station for a living than go through the experience again. He had my sympathies!" – Douglas Wilmer, Cushing's predecessor in the series.
“I was kept busy for the next nine months, making a series of 15 Sherlock Holmes adventures with the excellent and humorous Nigel Stock playing Dr. Watson. It proved a popular program, but I was most displeased with my performances. Helen’s condition was a constant worry, diverting my concentration, and of course, I missed her presence in the control box, which gave me self-confidence I lacked. She was also my sternest critic, and I felt lost without her guidance. Adding to my anxieties, the BBC’s schedule went a little haywire. The original plan had been ten days’ rehearsal, plus recording, for each installment, including location shooting. Unfortunately, our British climate had not been taken into account, and rain often “stopped play”, losing us valuable hours while we waited for it to stop and leaving little time for the interiors. The series began transmission before we’d completed the full complement, so we were pressured into getting them ready to keep up with the weekly demand. I can never give my best under such conditions, and to my mind, it was apparent on the screen.” – Peter Cushing
The television film directed by Roy Ward Baker, The Masks of Death was Cushing's final appearance as Holmes. Cushing played Holmes as an aging, retired gentleman aided by John Mills as Watson. A sequel, The Abbott's Cry, was planned but cancelled due to Cushing's ailing health. His final association with Sherlockians was a lapel pin he designed for a Society in 1987.
"...Not the pleasantest of characters....It's a very difficult part to play...he goes up and down like a yo-yo. You've got to be awfully careful when you play a part like that that it doesn't become annoying to the audience."– Peter Cushing.
The Blue Carbuncle (as any other epidsode in the series) contains no big explosions, not too much af anything spectacular. In other words: probably boring for modern viewers. It's just a decent retelling for television of a famous story written by sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Modern viewers should come to appreciate decent retellings again.
Plague of the Zombies (1966) John Gilling Andre Morrell
The Plague of the Zombies (UK, 1966). Directed by John Gilling. Screenplay: Peter Bryan. Cast: Andre Morrell, John Carson, Jacqueline Pearce, Michael Ripper, Diane Clare, Brook Williams. Plot: Sir James Forbes (Morell) and his daughter, Sylvia (Clare), travel to a Cornish village at the request of his former pupil, Dr. Peter Thompson (Williams). He needs help solving a spate of mysterious deaths, and Peter's wife, Alice (Pearce) is soon the next victim. The trail leads to Squire Hamilton (Carson), who has returned from a trip to Haiti armed with voodoo secrets, which he is using to resurrect his victims as living dead zombiesto work in his tin mine.
The film is notable for its seminal imagery, which influenced many films in the zombie genre, and its themes of colonialism, exploitation and tyranny.
Without any doubt this film influenced George Romero to make Night of the Living Dead (1968). After that the zombiemovie-genre had to wait another 10 years before it became a horrormovie-genre in its own right (with George Romero's Dawn of the Dead 1978). The Plague of the Zombies is now a classic. It contains many memorable scenes: the first zombie appears at sundown at a mill with the body a dead girl in his arms, the famous dream-sequence when the dead are raising from their graves and attack the living, the walking dead consumed by fire in the underground corridors of the mine.
Andre Morrell never achieved star-status as Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee did by appearing in Hammer-movies. Nevertheless, he appeared in several Hammer-movies: The Camp on Blood Island (1958), The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959), Cone of Silence (1960), Cash on Demand (1961), She (1965), The Mummy's Shroud (1967), The Vengeance of She (1968).
Very good movie and recommended to all the true horrormovie-fans.
Scarface (USA,1983) Regisseur: Brian de Palma. Scenario: Oliver Stone. Cast: Al Pacino, Michelle Pfeiffer,Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Steven Bauer, Myriam Colon, Robert Loggia, Paul Shenar, F. Murray Abraham, Harris Yulin. De film is min of meer (eerder min) een remake van de gelijknamige film uit 1932, de plot werd wel grotendeels veranderd. De titelsong Rush Rush werd door Blondie uitgevoerd.
In april 1980 stond de Cubaanse regering burgers toe om met eigen transport het land te verlaten vanuit Mariel. Binnen 72 uur waren 3000 Amerikaanse boten op weg naar Cuba. Weldra werd duidelijk dat Castro de booteigenaren dwong om niet alleen gewone Cubanen maar ook het uitschot uit zijn gevangenissen mee te nemen. "Zij passen zich niet aan de geest van onze revolutie aan. Wij willen hen niet! Wij hoeven hen niet!" aldus Castro. Een orkaan liet vele boten omslaan. De Amerikaanse Coast Guard redde boten in nood en procedeerde de vluchtelingen. Tussen april en mei 1980 werden 125.000 vluchtelingen geprocedeerd. Velen van hen hadden een strafblad.
Antonio Montana is een van die vluchtelingen. Na aankomst wordt hij in de VS streng ondervraagd. Tony kan aardig praten maar de overheidsmannen hebben al snel door met een Cubaanse crimineel te maken te hebben. Ze sturen hem naar Freedom Town, een strafkamp vol Cubanen van twijfelachtig allooi.
Al na een maand doet zich een kans op een beter leven in de VS voor. Tony's vriend Manolo "Manny" Ribera vertelt Tony dat hij maar één moord hoeft te plegen in het kamp, om vervolgens met een verblijfsvergunning en werk in Miami voor beiden te worden beloond. Beoogd slachtoffer is een zekere Emilio Rebenga, ex-lid van het Castro-regime. Tijdens een opstand in het kamp ziet Tony zijn kans. Tony handelt snel en het duo wordt spoedig vrijgelaten. De wereld ligt aan hun voeten: ze lopen vrij en legaal rond in de VS en kunnen met tegenzin aan de slag als afwassers in een klein, smerig fastfoodtentje.
Daarna gaat het snel. Via Omar, de opdrachtgever van de moord op Rebenga krijgen Manny en Tony een nieuwe opdracht, een drugsdeal. Daarbij loopt het heel mis en verliest Tony een van zijn vrienden Angel. Tijdens een feest met zijn baas Lopéz klikt het goed en zijn vriendin Elvira ziet hij wel zitten.
In Bolivia mag Montana onderhandelen met Alejandro "Alex" Sosa , een lokale drugsbaron. Een van Sosa's bedienden herkent Omar als een vroegere spion, en daarbij wordt Omar koelbloedig afgemaakt. Daarbij twijfelt Sosa even aan Montana, maar het lukt Tony om het vertrouwen weer op te krikken. Hij handelt erop los met Sosa.
Lopéz is laaiend en stuurt een groep huurmoordenaars op Tony af, die echter ontkomt en diezelfde nacht nog Lopéz doodschiet. Nu neemt hij de plaats over als koning van de onderwereld. Elvira is zijn nieuwe vriendin en later echtgenote, zijn zus Gina krijgt de duurste cadeaus en de criminele organisatie betrekt een schitterend pand. Ondertussen raakt Tony Montana zelf aan de coke verslaafd. Hij wordt paranoïde en de hebzucht, de grootheidswaanzin en het wantrouwen tegen zijn omgeving nemen buitenissige proporties aan. Hij wordt onredelijk tegen zijn vriend Manny, kan zich niet gedragen tegenover zijn vrouw Elvira en maakt alleen maar vijanden.
Later krijgt Tony een klus van Sosa, die moet namelijk een politicus elimineren die op het punt staat om de helft van de Cubaanse georganiseerde misdaad op te doeken. Sosa stuurt een bomdeskundige om samen met Tony een autobom te plaatsen in de wagen van het doel. Wanneer ze hun plan willen uitvoeren, ontdekken ze dat er kinderen zijn in de wagen. Tony weigert de auto op te blazen. Als hij ontdekt dat de deskundige doorgaat, schiet hij hem door zijn hoofd. Als Sosa dit hoort, is hij furieus dat de aanslag mislukt is. In een telefonisch gesprek belooft Sosa Tony dat hij hem zal afmaken, en zo beëindigen ze hun vriendschap en worden ze aartsvijanden.
Als Tony na enkele dagen in New York terugkomt in Miami, ontdekt hij dat zijn zus Gina en zijn beste vriend en partner Manny bij elkaar zijn ingetrokken. Tony wordt woedend en schiet Manny dood, waarna Gina hysterisch roept dat ze zojuist getrouwd waren.
Diezelfde nacht wordt de grote villa van Tony Montana overmeesterd door een moordeskader van Sosa. Gina wordt vermoord, net als alle aanwezige beveiliging. Tony, helemaal high van de cocaïne, besluit om te vechten. Bewapend met zijn machinegeweer-granaatwerper weet hij de helft van de belagers uit te schakelen. Uiteindelijk klimt the skull langs het balkon het pand in en schiet hij Tony in de rug. Tony valt van zijn balkon recht in de fontein met daarin het beeld met de tekst "The World Is Yours".
Achtergrond
Scarface was toen hij in première ging een controversiële film, vanwege het geweld en ruwe taalgebruik. Ook waren veel Cubanen het er niet mee eens dat zij afgebeeld werden als een volk dat vooral in drugs handelt. Aanvankelijk zou de film in Miami opgenomen worden, maar men stond dit niet toe omdat men vreesde dat de film een negatief beeld van de stad zou schetsen en de toeristen daardoor weg zouden blijven. Daarnaast waren de Cubanen die in Miami woonden ook niet blij met de film. De productie werd daarom naar Los Angeles verplaatst. Veel filmrecensenten waren negatief over de film. Ondanks die negatieve recensies bracht Scarface wereldwijd 65 miljoen dollar op, en het werd een echte cultfilm. Ook nu nog is de film erg populair. Ook belangrijk in de film is de filmmuziek van de Italiaan Giorgio Moroder. Moroder was zijn tijd vooruit met het gebruik van synthesizers.
Trivia
Ondanks dat er in de film enkel pistolen werden gebruikt met zogenaamde "blanks", patronen die enkel gevuld zijn met buskruit, verbrandde Al Pacino zich ernstig tijdens de opnamen omdat hij de loop van het pistool vast hield. De productie moest wekenlang stopgezet worden.
De dialogen in Scarface bevatten 207 keer het woord "fuck", gemiddeld 1,22 keer per minuut.
In de scène waarin Angel Fernández met een kettingzaag wordt gedood, wordt op de televisie de film Earthquake (uit 1974) vertoond.
Schrijver Oliver Stone baseerde de naam Tony Montana op zijn favoriete American Footballer Joe Montana.
Brian De Palma zou eigenlijk Flashdance regisseren, maar omdat het script van Scarface hem zo beviel, liet hij zijn kans op Flashdance te regisseren varen. Laten we eerlijk zijn: met Scarface leverde hij een meesterwerk af; Flashdance zou niet werkelijk zijn ding geweest zijn.
In 2003 verscheen de film opnieuw in de bioscopen. Universal Studios vroeg Brian De Palma of hij de oude muziek wilde vervangen door nieuwe hiphopmuziek, maar De Palma weigerde dat.
Steven Bauer is de enige acteur in de film die ook in werkelijkheid Cubaan is.
Miriam Colon, de actrice die de moeder van Tony speelt, is slechts vier jaar ouder dan Al Pacino.
Al Pacino heeft ooit gezegd dat hij Tony Montana één van zijn leukste rollen vindt (voor wat dat waard is).
De film duurt zowat 3 uur. Erg lang voor een gangsterfilm maar elke minuut is het waard om te bekijken. Het duurt wat vooraleer je met Tony Montana (Al Pacino) begint te sympathiseren, maar na enigerlei tijd begin je dat te doen: hij doet waar de meeste anderen enkel van dromen. Hij betaalt de prijs daarvoor: stelselmatig eerst (door verslaafd te raken aan de drugs die hij zelf verkoopt, door bewust te worden van een zekere moraliteit die niet past in de wereld waarin hij verkeert) en op het einde met zijn leven, de ultieme prijs. Deze film is ERG goed in het genre van misdaadfilms !!!
Conquest (1983, Italy/Spain/Mexico) Directed by Lucio Fulci. Cast or Crew: Jorge Rivero (RIO LOBO, WEREWOLF), Andrea Occipinti (THE SEA INSIDE, BOLERO, NEW YORK RIPPER), Conrado San Martín (ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST, DUCK YOU SUCKER), Sabrina Siani (THE BLACK COBRA, ATOR THE INVINCIBLE), music by Claudio Simonetti (of Goblin).
A barbarian movie? Actually, why the hell not? Lucio Fulci has done everything from zombie movies, erotic comedies, poliziotteschi (Italian Cop movies), gialli and spaghetti westerns - so why not a barbarian movie? I didn't really know what to expect from this before I saw it. I figured it would either be really good or really bad. And it turned out being both.
Conquest is the story of Ilias (Andrea Occhipinti), a young man armed with a magic bow and arrow who sets out on a quest to destroy the evil, naked, golden masked, snake lovin' Ochran (Sabrina Sellers). He meets up with a barbarian named Mace (Jorge 'George' Rivero) and together they fight against Werewolves (actually more like Werewookies), Cobweb Monsters, (obviously robotic) bats, and of course Zombies on their conquest to destroy Ochran.
This film turned out to be exactly what I was hoping for. A silly, over the top barbarian film in which every woman in the film is topless and the gore rivals Fulci's bloodiest films. Who else would add a woman being ripped in half, decapitations, puss filled boils that pop ooze, a dude who gets the top of his head chopped off and multiple bloody arrow wounds? This film also has tons of fog, a bow that shoots laser arrows, heroic dolphins and some terrible dubbing. It is so fun however that none of that harms the picture, it actually makes it better. The hazy filter used on the lens throughout the film causes some scenes to be a little hard to make out, but it actually gives the film its own original look. I think if you are looking for a big budget Conan type movie, you may or may not be disappointed but if you are looking for a barbarian movie directed by Lucio Fulci, well...you know what you're getting into.
Somehow its a mix of La Guerre du feu (1981, directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud) and Conan the Barbarian (1982, directed by John Milius). When I say its a mix, I mean it contains elements of both movies and mostly they blend together well. It's not a cinematographic masterpiece, but its not entirely rubbish either. Probably the last well executed movie from Lucio Fulci.
Charlton Heston was born on October 4 1923 and died on April 5 2008. In
the meantime he played Moses in The Ten Commandments (1956), Judah
Ben-Hur in Ben-Hur (1959), Mike Vargas in Orson Welles classic Touch of
Evil (1959), Rodrigo Diaz in El Cid (1961), Matt Lewis in 55 Days at
Peking (1963), John the Baptist in The Greatest Story Ever Told (1964),
Michelangelo in The Agony and the Ecstasy (1965), Amos Charles Dundee in
Major Dundee (1965), General Charles Gordon in Khartoum (1966), George
Taylor in Planet of the Apes (1968), Detective Thorn in Soylent Green
(1973), Cardinal Richelieu in The Three Musketeers (1974) and in The
Four Musketeers (1975), Henry VIII in The Prince and the Pauper aka
Crossed Swords (1978), Josef Mengele in Papa Rua Alguem 5555 (2003). At
the annual Academy Awards Ceremony in 2009, he was only one of the
names of the showbizz-people who died during the last year. He was not
even granted a standing ovation. To my opinion, Charlton Heston was
one of the greatest actors of all time. Never mind his conservative
beliefs and never mind he was chairman of the NRA (National Rifle
Association), he was also a human rights activist. He made some of the
most impressing movies (real blockbusters before the term became an
every day expression). Watch him act in the somber SF-movie Soylent
Green (1973) when he administer the ceremony of his old friend (played
by Edward G. Robinson) dying and he looks at the television screens
filled with images of beautiful nature accompanied by music from Van
Beethoven's 6th Symphony and how that affects his character. Not many
actors ever made a scene more believable than that.
Day of the Dead (also known as George A. Romero's Day of the Dead) is a 1985 horror film by directorGeorge A. Romero, the third of Romero's Dead Series of zombie horror films. It is preceded by Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead. Director George A. Romero
describes the film as a "tragedy about how a lack of human
communication causes chaos and collapse even in this small little pie
slice of society".
Development
Romero originally intended the film to be his undead epic; "the Gone with the Wind of zombie films."[2]
Following budget disputes and the artistic need to release the film
unrated, the budget of the film was cut in half, dropping from $7
million to a scant $3.5 million.[2] This forced Romero to scale back his story, rewriting the script and adjusting his original vision to fit the smaller budget.
Filming took place in the fall of 1984 at locations in Pennsylvania and Florida.
All above ground scenes were filmed at several locations around
Florida, where Romero was living at the time. The opening scene was
filmed in Fort Myers, Florida.Underground scenes were filmed in a former mine shaft located near Wampum, Pennsylvania,
which had been converted into a long-term storage facility for
important documents. Though the mine maintained a constant temperature
of about 50 F, its high humidity played havoc with the crew's equipment
and props. Mechanical and electrical failures were a constant problem
throughout filming, and caused several of special effects leader Tom
Savini's props to fail during the filming of crucial scenes. The remote
location also complicated the transportation of crew members and
equipment. "Zombie" extras were recruited from among the citizens of Pittsburgh,
with preference given to those who had worked on previous Romero films.
Extras were paid $1.00 for their services, and given a hat that read "I
was a Zombie in Day of the Dead".
The film was given a very limited release.This is chronicled in the documentary "The Many Days of Day of the
Dead" on the 2-disc Anchor Bay special edition DVD of the film.Some of the original concepts and characters remain, but the film differs greatly from Romero's original script,as stated by actress Lori Cardille:
"He could've made me this sexy little twit bouncing around with a
gun:- much more the sexual element. But he made her intelligent and
strong. Infact [sic], whenever I would try and make her a little more
emotional, he would not allow me to do that."
One of the best zombie-movies ever. Even if it was made on a budget that was ultimately only half of what the producers promised to make it for (cut from 7 million USD to 3.5 million USD). George A. Romero changed his screenplay from a wide-scale story with trained zombie-teams doing battle with other zombies, to a more claustrofobic story set mostly in an underground military base. The screenplay was still so strong that even with minor changes, it could still holds its own.
The acting is strong. The actors were not widely known at the time the movie came out, and are still not widely known, as far as I can figure out. The special effects by Tom Savini are outstanding. Shorter in lenght than Dawn of the Dead (1978) it nevertheless contains scenes that seems boring, but ultimately gives the story a believability wich is rare to this kind of movies.
With all respect to the Resident Evil-series (wich is not bad at all but contains too much super-heroics as all genre-movies made in USA do nowadays), Romero made the zombie-movie into a genre of horror exclusively his own and he has stories to tell ! Night of the Living Dead (1968) was a landmark; Dawn of the Dead (1978) was a masterpiece; Day of the Dead (1985) is a masterpiece as well: the stuff real nightmares are made off.
Dennis Hopper is a legendary actor. Not "was", although he was already a legend during his lifetime. But actors become truly legendary after their death. He is dead now. Born in 1936 and deceased in 2010, he carved his name through Hollywood by movies like Rebel without a Cause (1955) directed by Nicholas Ray wich made James Dean a giant, Giant (1956) directed by George Stevens wich made James Dean even more famous and into legendary status, Easy Rider (1969) directed by Hopper and Peter Fonda, Apocalypse Now (1979) directed by Francis F. Coppola, Blue Velvet (1988) directed by David Lynch, The Indian Runner (1991) directed by Sean Penn. In 1986 he starred in the sequel of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre II (directed by Tobe Hooper) and in 2005 he starred in Land of the Dead (directed by George A. Romero). In The Texas Chainsaw Massacre II he played Lefty, a policeman and brother of the character who played the guy in the weelchair from the original The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974). In The land of the Dead he played the human (sic) chief villain in a city besieged by zombies. In The Texas Chainsaw Massacre he did alright; the movie is an over-the-top rollercoaster of comedy, horror, gruesome special effects by Tom Savini and a worthy sequel to the original movie. In Land of the Dead he played a villain named Kaufman and did OK but the movie did not need a legendary actor as Dennis Hopper to make it better. The movie was not as good as the previous zombie-movies directed by George A. Romero (The night of the Living Dead, 1968, Dawn of the Dead, 1978 and Day of the Dead, 1985), but because it was produced by a big studio (Universal) I guess they insisted on a big name in the cast. Obviously he did not accepted these parts because of the opportunities to enhance his carreer: his carreer was already established. He did not obviously accepted these parts because of the money (although, maybe...). Never mind, Dennis Hopper always gave it a try, and often give it his best. Often he played neurotic characters who could barely control themselves, wich is as close at Dennis Hoppers real life as one can get. He will be sadly missed.
Peter Cushing played Sherlock Holmes 17 times (beginning with The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959, directed by Terence Fisher) over 16 episodes of a BBC-television series in 1968, wich contained a another version of The Hound of the Baskervilles in 2 parts) up to The Masks of Death (1984, directed by Roy Ward baker) as a television movie. He played dr.Frankenstein in 7 movies: The Curse of Frankenstein (1957), The Revenge of Frankenstein (1958), Frankenstein Created Woman (1967), Frankenstein Must be Destroyed (1969) en Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell (1972) all dircted by Terence Fisher, and also The Evil of Frankenstein (1964, directed by Freddie Francis) and even a cameo part in One More time (1970, directed by Jery Lewis). He played Van Helsing (different descendants) in 5 movies: Dracula aka Horror of Dracula (1958), The Brides of Dracula (1960) both directed by Terence Fisher, in Dracula AD 1972 (1972) and The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973) both directed by Alan Gibson and in The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires (1974, directed by Roy Ward Baker). As no other he played these parts continuously and improved every succeeding part with more subtlety and skill. There are no great actors anymore today who are given the chance to play a character for 25 years or so (unless in a very long-running television series) and are given the time to develop the character.
The Monster Club (1980) Roy Ward Baker Vincent Prince
The Monster Club (UK, 1980) directed by Roy Ward Baker. Cast: Vincent Price, John Carradine, Stuart Whitman, Donald Plesaence. Based upon stories by Chetwynd Hayes. A fictionalized version of Chetwynd-Hayes (Carradine) is approached on a city street by a strange man (Price) who turns out to be a starving vampire named Eramus. Eramus bites the writer, and in gratitude for the small "donation", takes his (basically unharmed but bewildered) victim to the titular club, which is a covert gathering place for a multitude of supernatural creatures. In between the club's unique music and dance performances, Eramus introduces three stories about his fellow creatures of the night: A hybrid creature called a Shadmock leads a troubled existence and kills by whistling, a peaceable family of vampires is relentlessly if ineptly hunted by a team of bureaucratic undead-killers, and a movie director scouting locations for his next film pays an unpleasant visit to a small backwards village, Loughville near Hillington, Norfolk, inhabited by a species of ghoul. At the end of the film, Eramus cheerfully lists to the other club-members all the imaginative ways that humans have of being horrible to each other, and Chetwynd-Hayes is made an honorary monster and member of the club.
Despite Vincent Price's decades-long career as a horror actor, The Monster Club features what may be his only film performance as a vampire; although he appeared as Dracula in the educational film "Once upon a Midnight scary". Christopher Lee was originally sought for the role of Chetwynd-Hayes, but flatly turned the offer down simply upon hearing the film's title from his agent. The character of Lintom Busotsky is a film producer, and his name is an anagram of the real film's producer, Milton Subotsky wich any fan of the genre might know by now. The movie is not all that bad as many reviews say it is, it simply came too late. There had been already Star Wars (1977, directed by George Lucas) wich revolutionazed the special effects in movies, there had been already The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974, directed by Tobe Hooper) wich revolutionazed the illusion of seeing gore on the screen (brillant movie wich does not show much gore but make the audience believe they see all kinds of things wich are not really on the screen), there had been night of the Living Dead (1968, directed by George A. Romero) and Dawn of the Dead (1979, also directed by George A. Romero). What in the name of heaven could they have been thinking about when they made a movie like The Monster Club ? It's a nice movie in itself, a bit silly sometimes, a bit suspenseful sometimes, a bit awkward sometimes, just like most good old British horror movies from the late seventies. Nothing too scary, nothing too amazing. If it had been produced 10 years earlier maybe it would have become a classic in the Amicus-tradtion of multi story movies (Dr. Terror's House of Horrors 1965, Asylum 1970, The House that Dripped Blood 1970, Tales from the Crypt 1972, From Beyond the Grave 1973)... Now it's only a mostly silly movie because Vincent Price plays a vampire and does an over-the-top job with it, because John Carradine (father of David Carradine) was suffering from bad arthritis in his hands and maybe other limbs and was visibly uncomfortable, because the so-called psychedelic music and light effects belonged in sixties British horror movies, because a bunch of guest stars (Donald Pleasence, Stuart Whitman, Britt Ekland, Richard Johnson, Anthony Steel etc.) only performed as-a-matter-of-fact and never put any soul or energy into it. It could have been something in the sixties, even in the seventies. Maybe it could have become a cult-classic. In 1980 it was just silly. I have the movie on VHS-tape and sometimes (scarcely) I watch it again. Every time when I see it I think it deserved a better fate if it had been made at least 10 years before.
Ingrid Pitt (born in Poland in 1937) is most notably remembered for 3 movies: The Vampire Lovers (1970, directed by Roy Ward Baker for Hammer), The House that Dripped Blood (1971, directed by Peter Duffell for Amicus) and Countess Dracula (1971, directed by Peter Sasdy for Hammer). She did already bit parts in classcis like Dr. Zhivago (1965, directed by David Lean) and Where Eagles Dare (1968, directed by Brian G. Hutton) before she become noticed by the people. In The Vampire Lovers she took the female lead as Carmilla (based upon the classic Gothic novella of the same name written by Joseph Sheridan Lefanu) and co-starred wit Peter Cushing, Douglas Wilmer and Jon Finch. In The House that Dripped Blood she was again cast as a vampire-lady in the segment 'The Cloak" co-starring with Jon Pertwee. In Countess Dracula she appeared as a Romanian noble woman who became used to certain "vampiric" attitudes like bathing in virgins blood to maintain a young looking healthy skin and co-starred with Nigel Green and a very young Lesley-Anne Down. Its based on real facts.
Afterwards she appeared in The Wicker Man (1973, directed by Robin Hardy) co-starring with Edward Woodward and Christopher Lee; a television-adaptation of The Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare (1983, directed by James Cellan Jones) and co-starring with Charles Gray and Cyril Cusack; in Wild Geese II (1985, directed by Peter R. Hunt) and co-starring with Scott Glenn, Edward Fox and Laurence Olivier; in Underworld aka Transmutations (1985, directed by George Pavlou based upon a story and screenplay by Clive Barker) co-starring with Denholm Elliott and Steven Berkoff. Nowadays she writes a monthly column for the British horror-magazine Shivers and appears often at fan-conventions. She is not only a society-figure. With 3 movies in the horror-genre made in 1970-1971, she carved herself a name. A name wich is very well known among fans of British horror-movies.
Georges Simenon werd geboren in 1903 in Luik (Belgie) en overleed in 1989 in Lausanne (Zwitserland). Hij is een van 's werelds meest gelezen en meest verfilmde schrijvers.
The Blue Carbuncle (1968, UK). Directed by Bill Bain. In color. Cast: Peter Cushing, Nigel Stock, Madge Ryan, Michael Robbins. 
Scarface (USA,
Dennis Hopper is a legendary actor. Not "was", although he was already a legend during his lifetime. But actors become truly legendary after their death. He is dead now. Born in 1936 and deceased in 2010, he carved his name through Hollywood by movies like Rebel without a Cause (1955) directed by Nicholas Ray wich made James Dean a giant, Giant (1956) directed by George Stevens wich made James Dean even more famous and into legendary status, Easy Rider (1969) directed by Hopper and Peter Fonda, Apocalypse Now (1979) directed by Francis F. Coppola, Blue Velvet (1988) directed by David Lynch, The Indian Runner (1991) directed by Sean Penn. In 1986 he starred in the sequel of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre II (directed by Tobe Hooper) and in 2005 he starred in Land of the Dead (directed by George A. Romero).
Peter Cushing played Sherlock Holmes 17 times (beginning with The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959, directed by Terence Fisher) over 16 episodes of a BBC-television series in 1968, wich contained a another version of The Hound of the Baskervilles in 2 parts) up to The Masks of Death (1984, directed by Roy Ward baker) as a television movie.
Ingrid Pitt (born in Poland in 1937) is most notably remembered for 3 movies: The Vampire Lovers (1970, directed by Roy Ward Baker for Hammer), The House that Dripped Blood (1971, directed by Peter Duffell for Amicus) and Countess Dracula (1971, directed by Peter Sasdy for Hammer).
- 15 June 2010 | by Film-critic Lalit Rao (France)