Amazing Reimaginings of Contemporary Films With Classic Casts

I am, as the casual speakers in the British part of the UK sometimes say, gobsmacked, at the wonderful execution of these posters by Peter Stults. Go visit them and appreciate the all-around cleverness and beautiful execution. You may just cerebrally shit yourself.

Reet, Petite and Gone

It's a pity that the dialogue scenes are so damaged, but signal-to-noise during the musical numbers is more that adequate to enjoy these copious one-after-the-other Louis Jordan numbers. Download this Archive.org gem HERE (Divx, no less!)

Castle Films 1952

It's not William Castle films, but this post of Castle Films from 1952 at Bostworld is fun nonetheless.

Come take up your Hats, and away let us haste/ To the Butterfly's Ball, and the Grasshopper's Feast

One might think that a 19th century poem by a British historian and abolitionist (and a 1973 best-selling children's book) would be strange source material for a progish concept album by then recently-departed from Deep Purple's Roger Glover.


Even stranger would be the decision to film a one-off live performance (with Glover, Vincent Price, Twiggy, Ian Gillan, et al.) with in some live action filmed bits with actors in poorly-made animal costumes and animation thrown in.


The 1976 film was directed, produced and co-written by Tony Klinger (producer of The Kids Are Alright and director of Deep Purple Rises Over Japan).

Via crazedigitalmovies2.

Forbidden Dog Toys and Bowling Alleys

At Weirdward Ho! you can enjoy a collection of lobby cards from the 1956 movie "Forbidden Planet", in which humans have relationships with giant Kong dog toys and visit spectacularly awesome bowling alleys. Count me in!

What Do I Want For Christmas?

A visit to the Bolex Universe

shooting expensive silent stock

with the best logo ever.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

UK Humor (Humour) Fest at archive.org

Arthur Askey

Will Hay

Archive.org has started to list Arthur Askey and Will Hay films. Both are great and the kind of films that beg the question of "Why no US distribution?" It's not like there's a wealth of exclusively understood-only-by-the-British references. I will say that for once when I went to archive-org to look them up, (ex: Askey and ex: Hay)I was not presented with endless garbage occluding my search as is so often the case. So, yay.



Will Hay in Windbag the Sailor


Arthur Askey in Back Room Boy



Will Hay in Convict 99


Arthur Askey in Bees in Paradise




Arthur Askey in Ghost Train

I'd prattle on about their history and careers, but resources for that will hopefully be evident through the links provided. Instead just enjoy the comedy, IMHO underappreciated in their own country. We tend to rhapsodize about the Marx Brothers and W.C Fields, but Hay and Askey (along with Formby and others)were providing top notch comedy for the era that just never made it over here. Well, now, over here is the world.

Piccadilly

"With its stunning production design and photography, 'Piccadilly' depicts London through an otherworldly cocktail of influences, blending the debauchery of the rich West End set with the sleazy excitement of a Limehouse dive bar and the city's smoky Chinese quarter.

German émigré E.A. Dupont, who brought an international flair to late-'20s British cinema, also tackles the then risqué subject of inter-racial sex. As Shosho, who works her way from kitchen hand to star attraction at the eponymous nightclub, via a love tryst with its (attached) owner, Chinese-American star Anna May Wong represents the ultimate, and ultimately doomed, Deco diva." (Simon McCallum)

New music score by Neil Brand

Uploaded by BFIfilms

Ataque de los Fantasmas

Wrong Side of the Art

Living Doll goes Finnish

A Finnish version of Cliff Richard's 'Living Doll' from the 1961 movie 'Toivelauluja' [IMDb]

Video uploaded by Sirri2

(via David Nessle)

Trippy Ginger Rogers Pig Latin

First time I really got into these types of movies was when I was just out of high school and discovering herb (not Edelman, him I was already familiar with). While watching them my old man who had finally been forced to buy a 25" color portable TV (his conditions/reasons for putting it off) would come in and yell, "What the hell are you watching THIS for?!?!?! We finally got a COLOR TV and THIS is what you watch?!!?" I was watching color *wink. Either way it was quite an overwhelming spectacle for the newly stoned Lex10, what with the shopping mall sized sets, the Busby Berkeley imagery, and whatnot. These particular few seconds are well and truly classic.

A couple of observations of these few seconds: The focus pulling going in and out bespeaks (?!) a time before cinematic technological perfection - there's humans at work, and it's poetically beautiful to me. Secondly, that Ginger Rogers is a real sexual response producer and at the time, I was in love with her . Third, trippy, innit?

Enjoy.

Queen of Hollywood Novelty Numbers

There's no subtlety about the musical style of Betty Hutton....her movie numbers usually started out deceptively sweet and docile, and quickly deconstructed into her trademark high energy howling, growling, mugging, and hollering. If you collect goofy 40s novelty songs, you might enjoy the collection of Betty Hutton music from Kelly's Lounge Soundz--titles such as Who Kicked the Light Plug, the 40s jive-talking Murder He Says, and Arthur Murray Taught Me Dancing in a Hurry.

Getting His $20 Worth.

From the 1954 "Dragnet" feature film. You don't mess with Sgt. Joe Friday -- or his paycheck.

Crimson Kimono

The exceedingly thoughtful blogger at Record Collector's Hot Platters shares his collection of memorabilia related to the shocking, I tell you, simply shocking! 1959 movie of a romance between an Asian man and a "beautiful American" (read: pasty white) girl. There are all the trappings of an obsessive collector -- posters, lobby cards, ads, and a promo copy of the theme autographed by the composer. Tho I dunno, "Crimson Kimono" sort of sounds to me like the story of a girl with bad hygienic practices.

One Man's Niche-y Obsession

Steven Hills Movie Title Pages. Just....endless, hundreds, assloads of movie title screens. Has to be seen to:
A: Be believed
B: Be appreciated
let's face it - this stuff is an impact making few seconds of any film (for instance, in my house we say, "Cartoon opening; good movie." - think about it - it's true) and Senor Hill has made it his mission, with just a hint of "WTF?!?"

Are You Ready to Fight?

Do you like your inspirational speeches? Do you like your Academy Awards style montages? Good thing Matthew Belinkie is here to indulge you:


I don't know about you, but I'm ready to go out and kick some ass.

[via Filmdrunk.]

Argentinian Movie Posters

I came across this handsome selection of South American one sheets on Ebay and couldn't resist sharing! The posters in my Flickr set are somewhat crude interpretations of the original domestic materials but they also possess a bold simplicity. Enjoy!

Cinematic Turkeys

Donna Lethal's Phillipine movie advertisements got my brain a bubbling about bizarre foreign films. Turkey has a well deserved reputation for having turned out.. well, some cinematic turkeys. During the 1970's, Turkish cinemas were flooded with a wide assortment of 'reinterpretations' of Hollywood films. Often these celluloid clones featured soundtracks and large chunks of footage from their original sources. Unfortunately, much of what survives today, represents a small portion of what filmmakers were churning out during the heyday of Turkish moviemaking. It's hard not to enjoy the downright surreal hodgepodge of American icons shoehorned into low budget, low concept scenarios. YouTube has a decent selection of clips, a few of which are posted below. Two DVD companies I am aware of that have Turkish offerings include MONDO MACABRO and ONAR FILMS. MONDO has a great all region double bill of THE DEATHLESS DEVIL and TARKAN VERSUS THE VIKINGS, both of which are of a reasonable quality. ONAR is based in Greece with a modest library of Turkish films like 3 DEV ADAM and TURKISH SUPERMAN. DVD's from ONAR are PAL format and the quality can be pretty damn rough, however they may be the only venue for some titles.

In 3 DEV ADAM, Spider Man is not living with Aunt May or struggling with his awkwardness around Mary Jane - he's one evil sum' bitch and he's not afraid to prove it by taking a girl's face off with a boat propeller. Captain America and Santos arrive in country at the request of authorities and will not rest until the psychotic webhead's crime ring is smashed.



Oodles more action than Singer's SUPERMAN RETURNS. Is it just me or does it look like TURKISH SUPERMAN is sucking in his gut and holding his breath every time he has a frontal shot?



Training montages are an essential component of any action film and TURKISH STAR WARS is no exception. Hang through the first few minutes to see our hero really take it to the limit! (new music added to the Youtube clip)



New to me - this clip of TURKISH RAMBO features a climatic orgy of gun violence as our bare chested, headband sporting he-man scurries about blasting off his RPG only to find additional rounds for his weapon wherever he kneels. I want more!



TARKAN VS THE VIKINGS is a homegrown hero that adventures about Europe with his faithful dog and faces off against the vicious Vikings. Despite lots of goofy props like the cephalopod in the clip below, TARKAN has a genuine core of Turkish values which are fascinating for this North American viewer.

Everybody Was Kung Fu Biking.

The excellent Shaw Brothers post below by mrdantefontana calls for a follow up. This is a clip from the brothers' 1983 movie "Chang men jen" ("Lady is the Boss"). Are you ready to get your BMX on?


Damn, I need more kung fu movies in my life.

[via Monkeys For Helping.]

Shaw Brothers Movie Flyers

Shaw Brothers Movie Flyers (via Undead Film Critic)