#eurospy

[polyhymniasbooks]

New at Cold Takes, a new feature, The Adventures of the Broke Cineaste, a look at similar films largely available on YT, Archive, and Tubi. The first bunch of flicks are a shaken not stirred flight of of Eurospy cocktails.

#Cold Takes #my writing #eurospy #cult movies #movies #film #cinema #Jesus Franco #Jess Franco #James Bond #Bond #Bart Fargo #The Adventures of the Broke Cineaste

[abstractionsinyellow]

Massimo Castellani and Armando Morandi, Il sorriso del ragno, 1971

#eurocrime #eurospy #il sorriso del ragno #web of deception #marília branco #thomas hunter #elena nathanail #gabriele tinti #1970s #greece #rhodes

[kekwcomics]

THE BARONESS #2: "DIAMONDS ARE FOR DYING (Pocket Books, 1974?)

artist uncredited

#action #action adventure #pulp #pulps #pulp adventure #spy #superspy #eurospy #euro spy #espionage #crime #vigilante #vigilantes #pulp books #vigilante books #70s vigilantes #70s pulp #1970s pulp #1970s adventure

[illustraction]

OSS 117 ATOUT COEUR A TOKYO (1966) - The BEAUTY OF MARINA VLADY (Part 3/10)

By 1966 MARINA VLADY‘ was a well know European movie star but was not known much in the US.

The Eurospy superproduction  (co directed by James Bond’s Terence Young) was a big box-office success in Europe but failed to gain any traction in the US ending Vlady’s hopes to get a a shot at US stardom. Still a very enjoyable and fun movie

Above are posters from Italy and France (click on each image for details)

Director: Michel Boisrond, Terence Young Actors: Marina Vlady, Frederick Stafford

All our MARINA VLADY posters are here

If you like this entry, check the other 9 parts of this week’s Blog as well as our Blog Archives

All our NEW POSTERS are here

All our ON SALE posters are here

The posters above courtesy of ILLUSTRACTION GALLERY

#illustraction Gallery #illustraction #marina vlady #Frederick Stafford #Terence Young #Michel Boisrond #OSS 117 Atout Coeur A Tokyo #oss 117 mission to tokyo #Movies #Movie Poster #film #1966 #vintage #french movie #eurospy #OSS 117 #Italian movie poster #Enrico de seta #fotobusta #French movie poster

[tspoe-pods]

Russian agents, British secret service, and Athenian police are all after Jason, a thief who is coerced into stealing some microfilm that could expose intelligence operatives behind the iron curtain.

Lots of crosses and double crosses as Jason tries to stay one step ahead of everyone.

Would love to find a better print of this one. A few nasty cuts and splices chop a few scenes, but that aside I really enjoyed this entry in the eurospy genre!

#movie review #mystery #action #euro spy #eurospy #secret agent #intrigue #crime

[batmonkfish80]

#movie review #Eurospy #Hammerhead

[drzito]

Sartenada de posters de eurospy.

#posters #eurospy #espias #60s

[mariocki]

Revolver (Blood in the Streets, 1973)

"I want my wife. But then, afterwards, I'll pay my debts - to society, to justice, everything, all together."

"Your belief in the law is like that of a bigot's belief in the confessional. They do whatever they like for six days, and on the seventh they pay their debts."

#revolver #blood in the streets #italian cinema #poliziotteschi #1973 #sergio sollima #dino maiuri #massimo de rita #oliver reed #fabio testi #paola pitagora #agostina belli #daniel beretta #frédéric de pasquale #marc mazza #alexander stephan #sal borgese #steffen zacharias #ennio morricone #Sollima was better known for eurospy and western films‚ this being one of only two poliziottesco he helmed; nevertheless he demonstrates #a knack for the form‚ delivering a sustained and strung out tension trip which favours paranoia and intrigue over the genre's usual #preoccupation with blood and sex. a lot of the strength here is in the casting of Reed and Testi; Reed was fully in alcoholic freefall at #this point and many a brit or american star saw an italian genre vehicle as nothing more than an easy paycheck‚ but i have to give the man #his dues‚ he utterly nails this. throws himself into the role body and soul‚ sweating and crying and shaking with rage and impotence as the #prison warden who shifts too easily into criminal methods to try and rescue his kidnapped wife. Testi is more laidback‚ sullen‚ but with a #hint of tragic listlessness (established in the opening scene as he sadly buries his best friend). the relationship between the two is #entirely three dimensional and well developed in a fascinating way: they're enemies‚ they're allies‚ they begrudge then trust then care for #one another. there's an extraordinary moment‚ after Testi is wounded and the two are frightened and frustrated and don't know what to do‚ #where Reed silently lays his hand on the other man's arm. it's a small moment‚ perhaps even improvised‚ but it's such an unexpected scene #of tenderness in a harsh‚ brutal film about loyalties and betrayals and loss of innocence in every sense. a very good example of the genre

[postoctobrist]

Alice I swear to fuck did you seriously announce and then DELAY robbery szn for more eurospy

we’re waiting on the art, cope and seethe and next time get my name right

[foone]

The deadly PHONE ELECTROCUTION SCENE from Le tigre se parfume à la dynamite (Our Agent Tiger), a 1965 eurospy movie.

This scene was mentioned in the latest episode of Kill James Bond so I had to find the film and GIF it.

My roommate (who is a Phone Geek) basically said: no, this can't happen. There's like 30 milliamps at most in phone lines, they can't electrocute you.

#kill james bond

[theunderestimator-2]

Stills from Amos Poe's 1978 "The Foreigner" with the Cramps ganging up on the protagonist, Eric Mitchell, in the CBGB's bathrooms after a drunken brawl with Bryan Gregory and Miriam Linn upstairs.

dailypublic.com/: "Filmmaker Amos Poe is today considered one of the progenitors of New York’s “No Wave” movement, but back in the late 1970s he was just a guy trying to make movies about the scene he knew with minimal resources and the help of friends. The Foreigner, his second film, was made in 1978 but looks like an artifact from the early 1950s. Part of that is intentional: He’s trying to recreate the same no-budget, black-and-white crime films that inspired Godard’s Breathless. The plot is improvised around Eric Mitchell as a Eurospy who arrives in Manhattan ready for his next assignment. What that is, he doesn’t know, and his attempts to find out take him through some of the seedier back alleys of Alphabet City, way back before the era of gentrification.

Punk fans will want to see it for a CBGBs performance by the Erasers and cameos by Debbie Harry (singing a Brecht song) and the Cramps (as a gang that mugs Mitchell in the CBGB bathroom). If you’re interested in the era, it’s an invaluable time capsule."

I gotta say the bathrooms look spotless, though.

Here's the footage from that scene on YT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gAyT5UK6dU

(via)

#the cramps #amos poe #1978 #the foreigner #art film #no wave #cbgb #new york #punk #punk rock #early punk scene #people

[chernobog13]

Now, I'm not saying Argoman the Incredible Superman (1968) is the worst superhero movie ever made (there are plenty of candidates for that title), but man, it is NOT good!

The film is a mixture of low-budget superheorics, Eurospy movies, and Batmania silliness that seemed to infect the entire world back then.

Argoman has telekinetic and psychic powers, is able to hypnotize almost anyone, isable to hold his breath for more than 30 minutes, has greater than normal strength, and has X-ray vision. The last comes in handy as he wears a mask that cuts off 90% of his vision.

Oh, and he loses all his superpowers for 6 hours after having sex.

It truly has to be seen to be believed. It's available on Amazon Prime, or there are edited versions on Youtube. However, if you're faint of heart, just watch the trailer below to get a taste of how awful this film is.

You have to be wary of a superhero whose only line in his trailer is "Kill each other!"

#Argoman the Fantastic Superman #Argoman #Roger Browne #Italian superhero #bad supoerhero films #Youtube

[shiningwizard]

Secret Agent Super Dragon (Giorgio Ferroni, 1966)

Movies as done by MST3K and as originally done (or in cases the 3 or 4 producer/distributor cuts of that original) should really be considered different entities. Not here. I don't care. Not for you. I don't care either. I'm speaking personally. Obvious to say, but wisecracks and a silhouette over the screen does inhibit the viewing experience some. The derision Joel/Mike and the bots give the movie, the derision-worthy quality some of these movies have - two discrete objects. So here i am watching this on its own for the first time. In the world of eurospy movies, here's one. There's glamour, style and excitement found in the genre, but here it's rarely escapes an oily, cigarette-stenched uncle's rumpus room tedium.

#new york chiama superdrago #secret agent super dragon #last movie i saw #B-

[tspoe-pods]

Richard Denning takes a break from hunting gillmen and scorpions to play super-spy! Well, adequate-spy anyway.

Not a bad film, and interesting having the American officer based in London. The locals do more to solve the case than our hero.

#movie review #euro spy #eurospy #mystery #action #richard denning

[edi-mccredie]

We do not take enough about how hard Song of Giga Rosa slaps as a boss fight theme. She's giving Thunderbirds, she's giving Joe 90, she's giving eurospy

In unrelated news I'm buying a theremin

#vgm #xc2

[tilbageidanmark]

Movies I watched this Week #129 (Year 3/Week 25):

A few months ago I discovered the early films of Alice Guy-Blaché, the first ever female filmmaker, and history's first director of narrative cinema. An enormously important figure, who was erased and forgotten until her recent resurgence.

The documentary Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché shows how central she was to the development of all of cinema. A most fascinating and moving detective story laying open the amazing life of this pioneering heroine, who helped define its crafts and systems.

Narrated by (another prodigy) Jodie Foster. Like 'The Méliès Mystery' biography, these two are a must-see for any film lover.

Best film of the week! 10/10.

🍿 

The short film essay Celebration Sequences gives some excellent examples of “Storytelling's Most Useful Type of Scene”: Weddings, funerals, birthdays, parties, balls (and orgies). Celebrations give a story the chance to gather every important character and let them interact for a while under the auspice of important themes such as love and death.

Because of it, I watched Kurosawa's Hamlet-inspired The bad sleep well. Coppola listed The bad sleep well as one of his favorite films, citing the wedding ceremony of the first thirty minutes "as perfect as any film I've ever seen". He then used it as inspiration for the wedding sequence in The Godfather.

🍿 

The devil and Miss Jones [Not to be confused with the 1973 'The Devil IN Miss Jones...] was an unusual 1941 Capra'esque comedy, with a pro-labor bent. It dealt with some real labor, wealth inequality and capitalism issues. And, it did not paint them outright as 'communist' agenda!

The 'richest man in the world' goes underground in order to root out 'agitators' and union leaders, who cause trouble at one of his department stores. However, after working as a regular shoe salesman down in the weeds, he learns to sympathize with the cause of his new working class comrades (after falling in love with one of them, of course).

🍿

3 by French director Nicolas Bedos:

🍿 Masquerade is a sleek caper, like Jim Thompson's 'The Grifters' but on the glitzy part of the French riviera. A young gigolo specializing in seducing rich, older woman falls for a beautiful young con-artist and together they devise a long-con to bilk high-maintenance diva Isabelle Adjani and wealthy real estate broker François Cluzet. Lots of erotic twists and thrilling turns. 6/10.

🍿 In his previous, genial comedy La Belle Époque, Daniel Auteuil is allowed to participate in an immersive reenactment of any historical period of his choice. After being kicked out by his wife, he decides to re-live a week in 1974 when he met her, the love of his life, at the La Belle Époque café in Lyon. A mix of Fincher's "The Game', with 'The Truman show' but with an imaginative heart. Better than Charlie Kaufman. 9/10.

🍿 OSS 117 was a French series about a fictional secret agent, a-la-James Bond, featured in 11 films and parodies. OSS 117: From Africa with Love is a stupid spoof of the EuroSpy genre of the 60's and 70's. and the third starring comedian Jean Dujardin (from ”The artist”). He plays a self-important idiot, politically-incorrect who can't get it up, more Peter Sellers than Sean Connery. Tintin was much deeper. 2/10.

🍿

Because I don’t usually watch such low-brow low-budget trashy sub-genres, I enjoyed the crowd-funded Swiss exploitation Mad Heidi much more that I would under normal circumstances. The absurd story deals with a fascist cheese-based dictator, and a zaftig mountain girl who must escape Stalag-type prison in order to save the motherland and prevent a tainted cheese apocalypse.

As Joe Bob Briggs used to write in his early reviews "Cheese Nazis, cheese zombies, edelweiss throwing stars, and goat cheese hustlers. Mustard covered sausages inserted up the ass. About 10 exploding heads and torsos. Every Swiss cliché in the book, from 'Sounds of Music' and Toblerone to Alp horns, cuckoo clocks, cheese fondue, watches, and pocket knives - dialed up to 11. Women's prison-fu. Gladiator-Fu. Lesbo Fu. One Black Goat Peter. Drive-In Academy Award nominations for Casper Van Dien as the megalomaniacal president of Switzerland. Check it out.” 4/10.

🍿

Pierrot le Fou, my 8th New Wave stream of consciousness improvised exploration by JL Godard. Without a screenplay, and Everything Goes attitude, it's one long Pop Art of random allusions, aphorism, literary riddles and intellectual bon mots. Actually, apart from his brilliant debut 'À bout de souffle' (Breathless), I was bored by most of his films.

🍿

The Novice, another remarkable first feature by a young female director (Lauren Hadaway, who doesn't even have a Wikipedia page yet). An obsessive freshman joins her university's rowing team and is so driven to compete that she destroys everything in her path, especially herself.

Hadaway's frantic use of film language is thrilling. Also her blending of music by Brenda Lee and Patsy Klein.

🍿

As a teenager I admired Knut Hamsun, read and collected all his books. My pride and joy, and the oldest book I owned was the rare Hebrew translation of 'Hunger', published in Poland in 1889. So I stopped everything to watch Jan Troell's lionizing drama Hamsun about his final and dying years.

Hamsun was a towering Norwegian hero who later turned Nazi-sympathizer traitor and supported Hitler & Germany even as it occupied Norway. Max von Sydow plays him as a venerable 'Great Man', complex, selfish, stubborn and conflicted, and Danish diva Ghita Nørby plays his wife, who was even more pro-German than him. 3/10

🍿  

Another re-watch, Edgar Wright final installment of his Cornetto trilogy, The World’s End. Immature alcoholic Simon Pegg brings his 4 childhood friends back together to recreate the greatest achievement of their youth, a legendary 12-station pub crawl. Massive drinking & mayhem mixed with an alien invasion by blue-blooded androids.

Like the new 'Demon 79' it culminates with an unexpected apocalyptic Götterdämmerung. Yeah, 'The world's end' is not only the name of the last drinking hole. Plus points for the beautiful Rosamund Pike.

With every re-watch of any Edgar Wright movie, I go back to 'Every frame a picture' showing his visual comedy style, or other essays explaining his unique editing techniques.

🍿

Instead of watching Jason Reitman's 'Up in the air' for the 5th time, I picked up his Front Runner. A bland 2018 Political drama about the fall from grace of Senator Gary Hart, caught with his fly open aboard a yacht called 'Monkey Business' while running for president.

I saw Gary Hart at a political rah-rah at UCLA the first week I came to the US in 1984. But the film itself added no new wrinkle to the usual cliches of election campaigns, newspaper editorial rooms, media ethics or the hypocrisies of public figures. 3/10.

🍿  

(My complete movie list is here).

#movies