Julia, Du bist zauberhaft (AKA Adorable Julia) is a 1962 Austrian comedy film directed by Alfred Weidenmann and starring Lilli Palmer, Charles Boyer and Jean Sorel. It was entered into the 1962 Cannes Film Festival.[2] It is based on the 1937 novel Theatre by W. Somerset Maugham, and the subsequent play that Guy Bolton and Marc-Gilbert Sauvajon adapted from the novel.Read More »
Jean Sorel
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Alfred Weidenmann – Julia, du bist zauberhaft AKA Adorable Julia (1962)
1961-1970Alfred WeidenmannAustriaClassicsRomance -
Ramón Fernández – La muerte ronda a Mónica aka Death Haunts Monica (1980)
1971-1980GialloRamón FernándezSpainThis Spanish Giallo/ thriller was distributed in the United States as Death Haunts Mónica, an apt enough title until one realizes how much else is haunting the poor broad. Murder, mayhem, kinky Sapphic encounters, and risqué bathing behavior are just a few of the elements in Ramon Fernandez’s off-the-wall romp, which features no fewer than three European beauties.Read More »
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Julien Duvivier – Chair de poule AKA Highway Pick-Up (1963)
1961-1970Film NoirFranceJulien DuvivierThrillerSynopsis:
“A man plans a hold-up with a group of trusted fellows, he gets his hands on the money, and the girl – what could go wrong? Almost everything.”
– IMDbRead More » -
José María Forqué – El ojo del huracán AKA La volpe dalla coda di velluto AKA In the Eye of the Hurricane (1971)
1971-1980GialloItalyJosé María ForquéThrillerSynopsis:
Ruth and Michel separate after Ruth finds another man, Paul. Ruth and Paul go to her sunny, idyllic beach side villa to spend summer. They are having a great time together, and then things start happening. The brakes of the car fail, and Ruth narrowly escapes death. The driving equipment goes faulty, and Ruth almost drowns. Michel turns up at their doorstep for an uninvited social call, and Paul asks him in. Ruth suspects Michel of being the person behind the mechanical faults of the car and the diving equipment, but Paul dismisses such a possibility – but he does suggest it to Michel. Then, the heat does go up…Read More » -
Aldo Lado – La corta notte delle bambole di vetro AKA Short Night of Glass Dolls (1971)
1971-1980Aldo LadoGialloItalyMysterySynopsis:
Greg Moore, an American journalist visiting Prague with his girlfriend Mira is found dead. However, he’s actually only temporarily paralyzed, but the coroner fails to realize this and proceeds to prepare him for the autopsy. While Moore awaits his doom, he tries to recollect what has happened to him. It all starts when his girl disappears. He asks his friend, a local journalist, for help. They discover that this was just the latest in a series of disappearances of young pretty girls in the area. Their investigation leads them to a strange high profile private club, whose affluent members practice odd ritualistic orgies and bizarre dark rites.Read More » -
Eloy de la Iglesia – Una Gota de sangre para morir amando AKA Murder In A Blue World (1973)
1971-1980Eloy de la IglesiaExploitationQueer Cinema(s)Sci-FiSpainOften described as “the Spanish A Clockwork Orange”, this controversial shocker is set in a violent near-future world. Honest citizens live in terror as gangs of leather clad, whip-wielding sadists roam the nighttime streets. Meanwhile, in a top-secret laboratory, strange mind control experiments are being conducted. Against this background a beautiful nurse tries to ease the pain of those condemned to die. But who really is this angel of mercy and what is the purpose of her mission?Read More »
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Luchino Visconti – Vaghe stelle dell’Orsa… AKA Sandra of a Thousand Delights (1965)
1961-1970ClassicsDramaItalyLuchino ViscontiVisconti’s retelling of the Electra story starts with Sandra/Electra (Cardinale) returning to her ancestral home in Italy – and reviving an intimate involvement with her brother (Sorel) which troubles her naive American husband (Craig) – on the eve of an official ceremony commemorating the death of her Jewish father in a Nazi concentration camp. As ever with Visconti, he is ambivalently drawn to the decadent society he is ostensibly criticising; and Armando Nannuzzi’s camera lovingly caresses the creaking old mansion, set in a landscape of crumbling ruins, where the incestuous siblings determine to wreak revenge on the mother (Bell) and stepfather (Ricci) who supposedly denounced their father. Something like a Verdi opera without the music, the result may not quite achieve tragedy, but it looks marvellous. The title, culled from a poem by Leopardi, has been better rendered as ‘Twinkling Stars of the Bear’.Read More »