'BARBARELLA' : PART ONE REVIEW AND IMAGES : FAR OUT AND HIGH!

Watching Barbarella is like eating a bag of cotton candy. It's a lot of pure yumminess, and though it isn't particularly nutritious, you also don't feel bad when you're done. beautiful women, crazy visuals, and fun music. Barbarella begins about as classily gratuitous as it could. Inside a psychedelically decorated spaceship, an astronaut is floating around. The astronaut takes off its gloves, and . . . are those a girl's fingers? As if in answer to the question, the music switches from a vague sci-fi score to bass-y seventies funk (played by The Bob Crew Generation), which blossoms into an all-out theme song that I still can't get out of my head. Sure enough, the astronaut begins the process of completely disrobing (for no apparent reason) to fully reveal a perfect female body in zero-G. It's Barbarella!

The plot begins immediately after this sequence, and Barbarella's (Jane Fonda's) nude body does not resurface in front of the camera, except for behind a few sheer materials, for the rest of the film. The President of Earth gives her a ring on the videophone, and informs her that scientist Durand Durand (the movie came before the similarly named band, actually) has run off with the positronic ray, a weapon he invented -- the world's only weapon, in fact, other than those kept in museums of conflict. It's up to Barbarella to stop him from ruining the known galaxy's long-running era of peace.

Throughout all of this, Jane Fonda is what really keeps the film's pulse (and the viewer's) pounding. She's clearly in her physical prime here, and she speaks all her silly lines, makes all her naïve facial expressions, and wears all of her skimpy outfits in perfect dedication to the film. There are no winks to the camera, and that really helps this film work. It always seems that the film is taking itself seriously, even though we know that it knows it's one big gimmick. It gives us what we want, with no apologies.

The movie is basically a string of odd creatures and bizarre events, all surrounded by probably-LSD-inspired scenery and infused with the same cheesy seventies funk that opens the show. At one point Barbarella lands on an ice planet, at which point she becomes the captive of a band of children, rides on a sled pulled by a giant purple ice-coasting stingray-like creature, and gets attacked by chomping dolls with razor-sharp teeth, fortunately losing some of her outfit in the process. Later, in a climactic encounter with the evil "Great Tyrant" of a place called Sogo, Barbarella is put in a death machine. As it turns out, though, she's too powerful for the machine, so it does nothing but sexually stimulate her. This tone is kept throughout the entire film.

In short, Barbarella the movie and Barbarella the character are every sci-fi geek's dream, and it is not a sleazefest at all (though I admit I don't know how it got away with a PG rating). All nudity is tastefully done, and all sex occurs off-screen, except for one scene of a futuristic version of sex that involves not the slightest degree of prurience. Throw in some imagination, top it with cheese, and you have . . . a good bag of cotton candy? Okay, forget my metaphoric disjunction. Just go watch Barbarella. It's corny, it' s gratuitous, and it's childish, but it's all harmless fun.

CAST:

Jane Fonda: Barbarella
John Phillip Law: Pygar
Anita Pallenberg: Black Queen
Milo O'Shea: Concierge
David Hemmings: Dildano
Marcel Marceau: Prof. Ping
Ugo Tognazzi: Mark Hand
Claude Dauphin: President of Earth

PRODUCTION:
Roger Vadim: Director
Tudor Gates: Writer
Jean-Claude Forest: Writer
Clement Biddle Wood: Writer
Claude Brule: Writer
Brian Degas: Writer
Roger Vadim: Writer - based on the book by Jean-Claude Forest
Terry Southern: Writer
Vittorio Bonicelli: Writer
Jean-Claude Forest: Source
Dino De Laurentiis: Producer
Claude Renoir: Cinematographer - Panavision, Technicolor
Victoria Mercanton: Editor
Charles Fox: Musical Composer
Bob Crewe: Musical Composer

Year: 1968
Rated NR
Parental Rating: Objectionable for children
Country Of Origin: Italy
Running Time: 98
Format: Color
Genre : Erotic; Science Fiction
Production : Paramount
Released By: Paramount

REVIEW: Jack Berry

http://scifiblock.com/movie-reviews/barbarella-1968.htm

IMAGES: Marcus Brooks

BARBARELLA: FONDA VADIM 'FAR OUT AND HIGH' POSTING TODAY!

'FAR OUT AND HIGH' BABARELLA FEATURE POSTING TODAY WITH SUPER GALLERY

'THE LAST MEETING' ALL NEW! PETER CUSHING AND CHRISTOPHER LEE: COMING SOON!

ALL NEW AND COMING SOON. STAY TUNED!

RETURN TO SHERLOCK HOLMES: PART ONE: The Case of The Youngest Pen

Gary Hopkins began his television writing career in his early 20’s.  By the time that he was 27 he began writing screen dramatizations for Granada Television Productions of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s ‘The Return of Sherlock Holmes’ series.  His first adaption was ‘The Devil’s Foot’ which he went on to win a Mystery Writers of America,  Edgar Award for The Best Episode for a Television Series in 1989.  He would later go onto contribute three more episodes to the ITV/Granada series including 'The Mazarin Stone', 'The Golden Pince-Nez', and  'Shoscombe Old Place'.

In this 5 part series, The Black Box Club will discuss with Gary Hopkins his part in the making of these four episodes which will include candid stories involving his working with others including Jeremy Brett,  Edward Hardwicke, Jude Law, and Damian Thomas to name a few. 

In part one of this series, Gary Hopkins discusses how he first became interested in writing, the struggle of a young writer, and finally obtaining his first television commission for HTV's 'Into The Labyrinth'.

For those of you who may be interested in reading the original Arthur Conan Doyle story, The Adventures of Devil's Foot, we have formatted a digital copy that you may read online or download for free.

Open publication - Free publishing - More arthur

'BLOOD OF FU MANCHU' GALLERY AND 'THE CASTLE OF FU MANCHU' DVD REVIEW: FU OR PHOOEY?

Both Sax Rohmer’s Fu Manchu novels and the movies based on them are major guilty pleasures of mine. The Castle of Fu Manchu, made in 1969, was the second Fu Manchu movie to be directed by Jess Franco, and it was also the last real Fu Manchu movie. And it marked Christopher Lee’s fifth appearance as the fiendish arch-villain. There was a 1980 Fu Manchu spoof starring Peter Sellers, but that doesn’t really count!

The Castle of Fu Manchu ends with Dr Fu Manchu promising that the world will hear from him again it seems more and more unlikely that will ever happen. I can’t imagine any modern film-maker daring to try to resurrect this series. Which is a great pity. It’s a symptom of the increasingly lack of fun in our modern world.

The Jesus Franco Fu Manchu movies, and this one in particular, are often criticised for their exceptionally low production values and their lack of historically accurate settings and even costumes. Personally I don’t really mind. I see this as a example of Franco’s ability to make entertaining movies on budgets of almost nothing. And Fu Manchu movies are supposed to be campy fun, and on that level I think The Castle of Fu Manchu succeeds.

This time around Fu Manchu is using water as a weapon in his plans for world domination. He has found a scientist who has perfected a method of turning water into ice, even in warm temperatures. And the method works on large bodies of water. In fact it has the potential to work on very large bodies of water indeed - entire seas if necessary. As a first step the evil doctor creates an iceberg in the tropics and sends an ocean liner to the bottom of the Caribbean Sea.

Once again the world’s only hope of salvation is the courage and determination of the doctor’s arch-nemesis Nayland Smith. This time Nayland Smith has an unlikely ally. Fu Manchu had made a temporary alliance with a Turkish drug baron, and then turned on his erstwhile ally. Even worse, he captured and imprisoned the drug baron’s beautiful machinegun-toting girlfriend Lisa (Rosalba Neri). Fu Manchu has also kidnapped an eminent surgeon, needing his services to keep alive the ailing scientist who discovered the technique of changing the nature of water at will. The surgeon and his beautiful female assistant join the alliance against Fu Manchu.

The great strength of the movie is the teaming of Christopher Lee and Tsai Chin as Fu Manchu and his wicked sadistic daughter. They played these roles in all five 1960s Fu Manchu movies, and played the roles exceptionally well. Richard Greene is a perfectly adequate Nayland Smith. The real bonus in this film is Rosalba Neri. Putting her in male drag and giving her a machinegun was an inspired decision. She looks even sexier than usual and deadly to boot.

It’s best not to think about the production values at all. If you try to spot all the glaring anachronisms you’ll go mad. It’s a popcorn movie, so the best approach is to just go with the flow. And this movie is fun.

It’s silly fun, but it’s supposed to be silly.

The DVD extras feature Jess Franco, Christopher Lee and producer Harry Alan Towers reminiscing about the production. Franco is always entertaining to listen to, and Christopher Lee is surprisingly unembarrassed by the movie.

The Region 4 DVD features a pretty reasonable DVD transfer.

REVIEW: princeplanetmovies.blogspot.com
http://princeplanetmovies.blogspot.com/2010/05/castle-of-fu-manchu-1969.html?zx=885ed192a8df358e
IMAGES Marcus Brooks


BUY IT HERE:
http://www.amazon.com/Castle-Fu-Manchu-Werner-Abrolat/dp/B000096I9S

HAMMER FILM PRODUCTIONS: BLU RAYS... AT LAST!

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: THE PRESS RELEASE

19 January 2012:

In a landmark collaboration, Hammer today announced that STUDIOCANAL, Anolis Entertainment (Germany), Pinewood, illuminate Hollywood fka HTV and others are coming together to undertake a major restoration of the iconic Hammer film library. The project will bring over 30 movies into HD format for Blu-ray and new media exploitation in the 21st Century.
DraculaPrince of Darkness is the first title scheduled for release in the global restoration project and will be released in the UK in conjunction with STUDIOCANAL in March 2012. The partnership continues throughout the spring for the releasesof The Reptile and The Plague of The Zombies, and will also include The Devil Rides Out, Rasputin the Mad Monk and The Mummy’s Shroud during the course of the year.

Hammer will also release definitive versions of its three hugely-influential original Gothic classics in the UK:The Curse of Frankenstein, Dracula and The Mummy.Aswell as featuring a fully-restored HD picture and restored sound, there mastered films will boast a host of newly-filmed extras, including interviewswith cast members.

These documentary extras are being produced by Hammer expert and historian, Marcus Hearn – author of the recent “The HammerVault”.Pinewood Studios carried out the restoration of the first three Studiocanal titles after housing the original negatives for the films, restoring the original UK title sequence to The Plague of The Zombies as well as the UK title cards to Dracula Prince of Darkness.Recently-discovered footage that was originally cut from the British version of Dracula has been restored by Molinare to the BFI’s 2007 restoration courtesy of The National Film Center at The Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo. The Japanese footage features an extended and particularly gruesome death scene for Dracula, as well as a moment considered too erotic by the censors of the day.

Following the discovery and restoration of the Japanese footage to Dracula, Hammer is keen to unearth further “lost” scenes and on-set footage from The Curse of Frankenstein, The Mummy and other titles in their library, and hope that any private collectors with viable unseen elements will contact thecompany.In addition, Hammer will regularly be posting to a “Restoration Blog”,which will give a unique insider’s view on the entire process, frommaterial selection right the way through to release.

The blog can be followed at: http://blog.hammerfilms.comothercompanies/ involved in the restoration project include Warner Bros. MotionPicture Imaging and Thought Equity Motion in the US and Cineimage and Deluxe142 in the UK.
Matt Frankenberg
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HAMMER FILMS: WHEN THE VINYL VAMPIRE WAS KING.

Two great gems from the later years of Hammer Films.  The DRACULA album has been available for sometime on CD and as download, but in some cases it's minus the suites from Hammer Films She and Vampires Lovers.

The album Hammer presents Dracula with Christopher Lee

when first released was available as a gate fold sleeve. When it was re released some years later

economically the sleeve was just a single sleeve minus the great colour photograph of Christopher Lee as Dracula from The Satanic Rites of Dracula and the supporting notes.

A		DRACULA Composed By – James Bernard Narrator – Christopher Lee Arranged By, Conductor – Phillip Martell Script By – Don Houghton
		Four Faces Of Evil
B1		Fear In The Night Composed By – John McCabe
B2		She Composed By – James Bernard
B3		The Vampire Lovers Composed By – Harry Robinson
B4		Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde Composed By – David Whittaker

The Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires released a few months after the Dracula album featured the voice of Peter Cushing narrating the story of the Hammer/Vampire Run Run Shaw Brothers movie. Complete with more sound effects than you could shake a stake at, this was to be the second of a series of three albums from Hammer. A Frankenstein album was in the works when diminished returns from the first two albums put the nail in the coffin.

The Legend of the Seven Golden Vampire (Original Soundtrack)

1974|Vinyl|Warner Bros. Records|K56085

Narrator: Peter Cushing

Producer Roy Skeggs Producer The Legend Of Ancient China Prologue The Seven Golden Vampires The Chinese ... James Bernard (2) The Legend Of The 7 Golden Vampires (Original Soundtrack) Warner Bros. Records K ... The Vampires The Lovers' Death Count Dracula's Death And Disintegration Epilogue The Legend Of Ancient

The good news, for those who have never heard either album, copies can be found on EBAY quite regularly of the Christopher Lee Dracula album, though the chop socky vampire outing is quite rare. If you see them, snap them up and splash out a tenner for that old record player in that thrift store. They are a treat!  

PETER CUSHING: VINTAGE MAGAZINE THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN

PETER CUSHING INTERVIEW: VINTAGE CASTLE OF FRANKENSTEIN MAGAZINE

PLEASE CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE AND READ.



'THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN' PICTUREGOER: PETER CUSHING STARTS AT HAMMER FILMS!

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