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Dec 19, 2008

Videoclips for the next podcast

Video clips to whet your appetite for the next Paleo-Cinema Podcast are up at The Tumblr Media Site I Set Up.

Nov 30, 2008

Paleocinema Podcast 22 - Industrialised Vampires, Lost Civilizations and A Bad Movie About Movies



In this podcast we first look at THIRST, the 1979 Ozploitation vampire movie starring Chantal Contouri, David Hemmings, Henry Silva, Shirley Cameron, Rod Mullinar and Max Phipps.



From there we wind back the clock forty four years and go to a lost kingdom (or should that be queendom?) in the Arctic with the 1935 version of H. Rider Haggard's SHE, starring Randolph Scott and Helen Gahaghan.



Then forward again two years to Frank Capra's three million dollar utopian epic, LOST HORIZON based on James Hilton's novel. This is the good version, not the one where Bobby Van tapdances into a lake to amuse small children.




And finally, THE OSCAR which was as far from winning the award it is named after as I am from winning Miss World. A bad movie, with features of interest.

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Nov 24, 2008

Podcast Next Weekend - The Trailers.

This time around, in Paleocinema Podcast 22, we're looking at lost and hidden civilizations and Australian vampires.

Lost Horizon (1937)



She (1935)



Thirst (1979)



And the Really Bad Movie I'm going to discuss. The Oscar, from 1966.

Nov 11, 2008

Paleo-Cinema Podcast #21 - Ozploitation Comatose Killers, Sexy Nightclub Singers and Death at Carnival





Back again. In this podcast I look at Mark Hartley's documentary Not Quite Hollywood, begin the Paleo-Cinema Ozploitation Festival with 1978's Patrick the best killer-in-a-coma movie ever, explain why Charles Laughton stole the 1949 film noir, The Bribe and have fun with love and death at the carnival in Rio in the Oscar winning Foreign Language movie Black Orpheus.


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Oct 24, 2008

Andy Griffith Then And Now

In Podcast Twenty I talked about Andy Griffith's first movie role, here's an unashamedly political piece which shows his most recent work, and it's an important one. The guy that played his kid on TV is in it, too.

Oct 19, 2008

Paleo-cinema Podcast #20 - Music, Cars, Media and Politics.



In this podcast I check out the Monkees’ movie, partly written by Jack Nicholson, Head, a rev head car-based action flick that influenced Quentin Tarantino in a big way - Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry and a film from 1957 that has a lot to say about politics and the media right now, A Face In The Crowd.



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Oct 18, 2008

James Bond Facts #1


It wasn't M who called James Bond a blunt instrument. Yes, Dame Judi Dench did in Casino Royale but back in 1964 in a renovated Japanese castle surrounded by deadly plants, volcanic fumaroles, lethal snakes and poisonous spiders, 007 was called a blunt instrument by none other than Dr Guntram Shatterhand, a.k.a. Ernst Stavro Blofeld.

Page 171 of the 1966 Pan paperback edition: "... You are a common thug, a blunt instrument wielded by dolts in high places...."

Odd to think that a female head of MI6 and a syphilitic megalomaniac think alike, isn't it?

Oct 17, 2008

Tumblr Experiment

I've posted the movie trailers for the films I'm talking about in this weekend's podcast over at my new Tumblr account. Please to enjoy.

Oct 11, 2008

Bazura Is Back!


My favourite low-budget community tv show about movies, The Bazura Project is back. Shannon Marinko and Lee Zachariah educate the masses about, and take the piss out of, movies and movie culture. They're funny, not the usual Ken Doll clones you see on television and extremely entertaining, even if Lee doesn't know how to pronounce Maciste. The first episode of series three is up here and it's chock full of fillumic goodness.

Oct 6, 2008

Riddle Me This


What do Sarah Palin and Andy Griffith have in common? Answer, they've both played folksy demagogues on the screen. One of them is going to be discussed in the next podcast in two weeks time.

Oct 3, 2008

New Blog To Check Out

Ditmar winning Western Australian writer Robin Pen has himself a new movie blog as a paying gig. The url for Planet Blog is here. There are only a few postings yet but I know Robin is keen to build a community of commenters, so get over there and check it out.

Sep 29, 2008

Paleo-Cinema Podcast #19 First Anniversary Podcast Science Fiction Extravaganza


In this podcast I give a brief history of the very, very early days of science fiction cinema... and by very early days I mean from 1895 to the early 20th Century. We are talking deeply paleo-cinema this time. All the important questions are answered. What were the first movies ever to be pirated, plagiarised and remade? What is the first science fiction film ever made and what do pigs have to do with it?

Youtube music video based on Devil Girl From Mars (1954)



From there I move on to a checklist of pre-Star Wars science fiction movies that are either must-sees or must-owns. (Not a complete list, the podcast doesn't have a 6000 minute running time.)

And finally, I look at a science fiction movie from 1967 which is sadly overlooked, Peter Watkins' Privilege, which during the summer of love took a darker look at pop music, celebrity and the relationship between popular culture and politics.


A Youtube Clip from Peter Watkins' Privilege (1967)



Peter Watkins' web site analysis of Privilege.

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Sep 28, 2008

Letterboxing Education on TCM


TCM on cable here in Australia is showing a nice mini-documentary between movies which educates the audience on showing films letterboxed rather than pan and scan as they've previously shown them. People like Martin Scorsese, Curtis Hanson, Michael Mann and the late Sidney Pollack explain why pan and scan is in a sense re-directing a classic film and why letterboxing is giving the entire picture. Good on them. The education process is important. They demonstrate this using both versions of films like the '56 Ben-Hur, Gigi, My Fair Lady and Seven Brides For Seven Brothers. The fact that TCM is now showing letterboxed versions where available is also deserving of credit.

Back when I was working for Foxtel, the local cable tv provider, we used to get old ladies (and invariably old ladies) who called up to bitch about the black bars above and below the picture when they watched movies. Much time, effort and many imaginative analogies were used to educate them about letterboxing. Nice to see TCM doing the right thing.

And how fucking cool is Rod Taylor in The Time Machine? (Which is on right now, letterboxed.) He essays the perfect philosopher-warrior-scientist in cinema. The second best one is Aaron Eckhardt in The Core a movie with sometimes ridiculous science but which I enjoy immensely in spite of this, partly for the great ensemble cast (Stanley Tucci, Delroy Lindo, Hillary Swank, et al) and the wondrously silly audacity of the plot.

Sep 8, 2008

Paleo-Cinema Podcast #18 - Two Fisted Bloke Adventures





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In this podcast I talk about three manly adventure movies from the 60s and 70s. Charles Bronson’s hitman opus The Mechanic from 1972, and two films about survival in the savage regions of Africa - 1965’s Sands of the Kalahari and 1966’s classic The Naked Prey. I also complete the Alternative Magnificent 7.

The link to the Cinemageddon Site for bittorrents of movies not otherwise available.

Sep 1, 2008

Mea Maxima Culpa

Sorry guys. The podcast has been delayed because I have a bad cold including a very sore throat. As soon as the lurgy ebbs I will be in front of my mike and producing media content for the Interwebs once more. Peace out *cough*

Aug 27, 2008

Foreshadowing Podcast 18

The movies for the podcast this weekend are: Sands of the Kalahari (1965), The Naked Prey (1965) and The Mechanic (1972). It's going to be a two fisted blokey adventure movie podcast following on last podcast's emphasis on Audrey Hepburn in order to restore the balance of things.

Aug 11, 2008

Paleo-Cinema Podcast 17- Breakfast At Scarsdale.

In Podcast 17 I (with the assistance of a co-reviewer - Sal) look at one of the coolest thrillers of 1967, the Terence Young directed Wait Until Dark starring Audrey Hepburn and Alan Arkin.

And a proto-post modern look at Hollywood scriptwriting, alcoholism, stealing the Eiffel Tower, movie producers and why Frankenstein and My Fair Lady are the same thing, 1963's Paris When It Sizzles starring William Holden, Audrey Hepburn and Tony Curtis.


I also do a brief look at the movie Quentin Tarantino's about to remake, Inglorious Bastards.

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Aug 5, 2008

Foreshadowing the Podcast

Riddle me this, Batman. Which character in a film was described by Stephen King as follows "... may be the greatest evocation of screen villainy ever, rivalling and perhaps surpassing Peter Lorre's in M." When you figure that out, you'll know what one of the movies I'll be talking about in Podcast 17 will be.

Twitter

I'm now on Twitter. My user name there is terryfrost and I need followers. So if you wanna cyberstalk me, go for it bunky.

Jul 30, 2008

Upload Glitches

I've been informed that there's a glitch in the download link for Paleo-cinema podcast 16. I'm working on it, it will be rectified, so please try again in 24 hours.

Jul 22, 2008

Podcast #16 -Ozploitation and Blaxploitation


In this podcast I talk about one of my favourite Ozploitation movies, the 1975 kung fu action flick The Man From Hong Kong.


The Man From Hong Kong Trailer below.




I also look at one of the archetypal Blaxploitation movies - Gordon Parks' 1971 Shaft starring Richard Roundtree and Moses Gunn.

Shaft Trailer below.



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Jul 18, 2008

Free Music Links


While I get Podcast 16 up and running, here are a few free movie music links for you all to enjoy.

Sleazy Listening

Singin' And Swingin'

The Crime Lounge

Scores of Scores

Enjoy!

Jul 11, 2008

Yet More Youtube Goodness

Time for some more of the good old stuff from da intawebs thanks to that happiest kingdom of them all, Youtube.

Bali Ha'i from South Pacific. Juanita Hall (dubbed by Muriel Smith) in the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical. Why do I like this one? I love the matte painting of the island on the horizon which is some kind of utopia, visible but not yet attainable. I also love the fact that the most beautiful song in the movie is sung not by a blonde bombshell in a red evening gown, but an overweight middle aged Polynesian woman in scruffy clothing who radiates charisma.



The Nicholas Brothers Fayard and Harold, were the most acrobatic dancers ever caught on film. Fred Astaire reckoned that this was the best dance sequence ever caught on film, and who are we to argue? It's mind-blowingly good and terrifically joyous.

Jun 30, 2008

Podcast #15 - Hellzapoppin' The Three Caballeros At The Apocalypso







In podcast 15 I take a look at the seminal gonzo surrealist Olsen and Johnson comedy from 1941 Hellzapoppin', the first Disney movie to combine animation and live action and arguably the last decent flick they made - The Three Caballeros and to end things on an up-beat, I take a look at the other end of the World movie from 1959, Ranald McDougall's The World, The Flesh and the Devil - starring Harry Belafonte, Mel Ferrer and Inger Stevens.

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The Three Cabelleros thanks to youtube

Harry Belafonte wandering an empty New York in The World, The Flesh and The Devil.

Jun 23, 2008

Podcast This Weekend

In this week's podcast, I'm going to look at Hellzapoppin', the ur-absurdist comedy among other things, so to whet your appetite, here's some youtube goodness from that film.

Jun 13, 2008

Oops

Sorry guys and gals. the comments were off on the blog, but they're back on and all is well. :-)

Jun 9, 2008

Podcast 14: A World On Fire Versus The Horror Movie That Inspired A Cosmological Theory





Okay, in this podcast we have the ur-global warming movie The Day The Earth Caught Fire, directed by Val Guest and starring Edward Judd, Leo McKern and Janet Munro, the fifth person in my alt.Magnificent Seven, the movie that inspired a cosmological theory - the 1945 Ealing horror movie Dead of Night and talk about a place where you can get enough free movie and tv series downloads to last you a lifetime.

Link to an article in The Guardian about the links between the Steady State Theory and Dead of Night.

Internet Archive Links

The Archive.Org Archive of The Adventures of Robin Hood.

The Cabinet Of Dr Caligari

DOA (1949)

Panic In The Streets (1950)

The Day The Earth Caught Fire - trailer


Here's a link to watch all of "Dead of Night" on youtube

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Thanks to Cerpts, Weaverman and Nicky for their feedback and help, and as always, thanks to Sal for her constant support.

May 20, 2008

Paleocinema Podcast 13 - Atomic War versus French Girls




In this podcast I look at the 1962 nuclear war scare film "Panic In Year Zero!" starring Ray Milland and Frankie Avalon and gush lyrically about the two 1960s Jacques Demy musical masterpieces, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg and The Young Girls of Rochefort.
Email comments to kultguru@gmail.com

Go here for some more of the music from Demoiselles De Rochefort.

Mp3 download link.
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Embedded player below.


Flight of the Conchords Jacques Demy Pastische

May 16, 2008

Chanson Des Jumelles - foreshadowing for the podcast

Les Demoiselles De Rochefort.

I'm going to talk about this movie in the podcast this weekend, but here's a preview of this weird and wonderful musical directed by Jacques Demy and with music by Michel Legrand. Chanson des Jumelles.





And an amateur lip-synch version of it too:



May 13, 2008

Youtube Trailers - Eurospy Movies from the 1960s

Berlino - Appuntamento per le spie - a.k.a. Spy In Your Eye. This one has it all, bionic eyes, chicks, knife-throwing assassins. What more can you want?



Kiss The Girls And Make Them Die a.k.a. Se tutte le donne del mondo (1966) Starring Mike Connors who went on to make the cool private eye TV series Mannix a year later. The banana symbolism in the trailer seems a bit overt...



Operation Kid Brother a.k.a. O.K Connery was a spy movie starring Sean Connery's brother Neil and a number of actors from James Bond films. Adolfo Celi, Bernard Lee, Lois Maxwell and Daniella Bianchi. Neil was an okay looking guy, but not as charismatic on screen as Sean...



The Venetian Affair was a solid spy thriller starring a post-Man From Uncle Robert Vaughn, Boris Karloff, Felicia Farr and that delicious addition to many eurospy movies, Elke Sommer.



Mission Bloody Mary was a 1965 spy movie starring American actor Ken Clark as Dick Malloy Agent 077. I have two of the Dick Malloy movies, and they're interesting in a low budget way.



Try some Eurospy movies if you can find them. They're an interesting moment in cinema history, an offshoot of Bondmania which has literally hundreds of examples to explore. I'd also recommend buying the Eurospy Guide from Amazon.com as a great reference for this subgenre of exploitation films.

Apr 28, 2008

Paleocinema Podcast #12 - Bruce Lee versus Muppets versus Superfly in the Wonderful World of Soundtracks




In this podcast I look at soundtracks including the works of John Barry, Monty Norman, Lalo Schifrin, Piero Umiliani and Curtis Mayfield. I also bring in the fourth of my alternative Magnificent Seven Action film stars of the 1950s-1960s.

Here is the RSS subscription link.
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Enjoy!




Apr 19, 2008

Paleocinema Youtube Musical Clips #1

Dolores Gray from "It's Always Fair Weather" singing "Thanks A Lot But No Thanks". Her fake-sincere and smarmy Madeline Bradville is one of the highlights of this sometimes forgotten but interesting musical. Dolores was also one of the inspirations for the drag artist John Epperson aka Lysinka who was in the Paul Schrader directed fantasy telemovie Witch Hunt.


Here's Dolores Gray in Kismet Baghdad has changed a little since those days...



Bob Fosse as the Serpent in The Little Prince. See where Michael Jackson got some of his moves?

Apr 14, 2008

Cool TV Characters Of The Past #1 - Banacek (1972-1974)



One of the ABC Mystery Movies of the early 1970s, Banacek starred George Peppard as Thomas Banacek, a freelance insurance investigator based in Boston. Along with his chauffeur Jay Drury (Ralph Manza) and his bookstore owner friend Felix Mulholland (Australian born Murray Matheson)he investigated 17 mysteries which seemed impossible. From a football player who vanishes in the middle of a game to an experimental car that was stolen from a moving train. This show was witty, the plots ingenious and Peppard's dead-pan playing of the title character makes the show much more amusing than a lot of contemporary tv fare.

Apr 9, 2008

Podcast #11 - Nazis versus Cowboys versus Dinosaurs



Here it is, a little late but better than never. In this webcast I look at the recent deaths of Richard Widmark, Jules Dassin and Charlton Heston, take a look at the Michael Powell/ Emeric Pressburger propaganda flick 49th Parallel and revisit some childhood nostalgia thanks to Ray Harryhausen and a trip to The Valley of Gwangi.


The RSS Feed

Apr 7, 2008

Happy 100th Birthday, Bette Davis

One of the great women of 20th Century cinema would be celebrating her 100th birthday if she hadn't, to quote Al Pacino in Dick Tracy, said goodbye to oxygen. Here's a little youtube goodness to celebrate a real chick with attitude and style... who inspired a million drag queens.

Apr 6, 2008

Richard Widmark & Jules Dassin



I'll be talking about these two guys in the podcast this weekend. Above, is Richard Widmark's landmark psychopath Tommy Udo in Kiss of Death. Below is a youtube tribute to Jules Dassin, director of Rififi, Topkapi, Night and the City, Never On Sunday et al.

Apr 4, 2008

My New Blog

Don't get scared, I'm not dumping this blog or the podcast, but there are movies I like that don't fit into the format for Paleo-Cinema, so during a couple of idle hours I created Skiffy Films Blog, a blog dedicated to science fiction and fantasy films. One of the reasons is that over at Skiffy I can talk about recent movies whereas here I'm deeply doing deeply retro nostalgia.

So go over there, bookmark the link or subscribe to the RSS feed. Enjoy!

Mar 23, 2008

My Old Reviews #3 The Relic (1997)



Good monster movie making is an art. There are certain basic ingredients for success. You need an unusual and interesting setting that can become an extra character in the film. You need non-conformist protagonists who are intelligent and resourceful. You need secondary characters acting as both comic relief and a method of humanising and explaining characters of the protagonists. You need selfish, unpleasant people to become monster food. And you need a really great monster.

The Relic has all of these ingredients. It's a scary ride of a movie made by people who know the conventions of this genre well and subvert the stereotyping in bold and interesting ways.

The setting is the Field Museum in Chicago. A massive rambling place with forgotten nooks, laboratories and storage areas, large exhibition galleries and subterranean tunnels leading to the docks. It's an innately spooky setting full of beetles stripping animal carcasses in glass tanks, long shelves of bottled specimens and dramatically lit galleries displaying stuffed beast dioramas.

The Museum is both essential to the plot and a definite presence in the movie. As it changes due to the monster's actions, the characters are thrown challenges based on those changes. It provides both sanctuary and killing ground for the characters. It isn't just there because someone thought it would be groovy place to let a monster loose.

The protagonists are evolutionary biologist Margo Green (Penelope Ann Miller) and Lieutenant Vincent D'Agosta (Tom Sizemore). A gruesome murder in the Museum throws them together and both of them have roles to play in the solving of this murder.

Initially, it's D'Agosta's police work that reveals the clues, later it's Green's gene sequencing software and her scientific knowledge that puts the pieces together.

Though there's a definite rapport between these two, the script doesn't make the frequently seen mistake of having them fall in love nearly instantly while being chased by a monster. There's an attraction but it is cleverly portrayed as the possible start of something between them.

The secondary characters are chosen well. Linda Hunt as the Museum's director, Doctor Ann Cuthbert brings her usual intelligence and humanity to the role. When she's wading through a flooded tunnel, we laugh because the water's up to everyone else's chest and it's brimming against her lower lip. We laugh because she's believable and likeable.

James Whitmore's casting as Dr. Albert Frock is a wry, knowing decision. Forty five years ago Whitmore acted in another 'monster in the tunnels' movie - the one that started the whole atomic mutation monster cycle of the fifties -Them! He's a wry, humorous and humane presence in the film. His death in 'The Relic' mirrors the one his character suffered all those years ago. It's a easter egg hidden for the knowledgeable viewer to find.

The other delightful surprise is Audra Lindley's turn as the forensic expert who performs the initial autopsy. She's a gender reversal of the usual cynical coroner cracking one liners between analytical descriptions of hideous wounds. Lovely stuff.

The monster-fodder nasty characters are the usual types but having one of them being an Asian American is a good touch. Freedom from stereotyping also means that negative characters will be portrayed by members of a minority group.

The monster itself, created by Stan Winston, is impressive and impressively realistic. Unlike other monsters from the past, this one is unlike anything you've seen before in a movie. As much as the script and acting, Winston's creation takes this film out of the ordinary.

Mar 17, 2008

Podcast 10 - The George Pal Podcast




Podcast 10 is here. I look at the life and works of György Pál Marczincsák,a.k.a George Pal, the producer and director of some of Hollywood's best science fiction and fantasy films in the middle years of the last century. Check these films out.

* The Great Rupert (1950) (producer)
* Destination Moon (1950) (producer)
* When Worlds Collide (1951) (producer)
* The War of the Worlds (1953) (producer; directed by Haskin)
* Houdini (1953) (producer)
* The Naked Jungle (1954) (producer; directed by Haskin)
* Conquest of Space (1955) (producer; directed by Haskin)
* tom thumb (1958) (producer–director)
* The Time Machine (1960) (producer–director & "Morlock" designer)
* Atlantis, the Lost Continent (1961) (producer–director)
* The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm (1962) (producer–director)
* 7 Faces of Dr. Lao (1964) (producer–director)
* The Power (1968) (producer; directed by Haskin)
* Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze (1975) (producer)

Beat that Steven Spielberg....
All comments to kultguru@gmail.com


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