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| "Only the mad know, the impossible is possible!" |
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| October 2019 |
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This Blog is offering a colorful kaleidoscope of movie magic for cinema aficionados. Crispy peanuts, thin-skinned baloons and thrilling sensations on celluloid. See offbeat goodies and magic crumbs ...weekly! The Reality behind the Fantasy! - The Story behind the Spectacle! No inflated endlessly long stories, but short and crisp. 'This is Helmet time!' Photos beat content! Welcome to the manege of madness! - Have a pleasant trip! |
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'The Red Tent' is a very interesting co-production of Russia and Italy about the Arctic stranding of the legendary Italian explorer Umberto Nobile and the dramatic mission to rescue the survivors of the crash of the airship Italia. It is based on the real Story of Nobile, but of course with a good dose of fictionalized and highly imaginative interpretation. The Russian director Mikhail Kalatozov (1903–1973) and his DOP Leonid Kalashnikov created some effective images in the 'Arctic ice'. The location work took place in Estonia, the Baltic Sea and the Spitzbergen Archipelago in the Arctic Ocean, and studio work in Moscow and Rome. Peter Finch convinces in his role as Umberto Nobile. Same with Mario Adorf, Hardy Krüger and a few others. Sean Connery and Claudia Cardinale are there for the international flair. A gripping story, glittering stars and some powerful set-pieces. Not bad! The movie is pretty watchable, a bit too much routine filming here and there, but overall never toothless. The pictures with the airship are a small flaw and rather amateurish, others have managed that better. Check out the visually very exciting Airship scenes in 'Zeppelin' or 'The Hindenburg'. 6/10 |
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Filming scenes with Claudia Cardinale under ice cold conditions. Logistically and financially considerable effort was certainly needed for the preparation of such a Movie Set in the snow/ice. The simple and spartan structure of several Sets look pretty true to style. Successful Set design. |
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Hold your breath, ignore the cold ...and Action! These are conditions where working with a hand-held camera in the late 60s quickly became an adventure. Blurry pics. |
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Your comments are always welcome! Trust me, I know what I'm doing. Sometimes. |
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As Fox Studios auctioned off mass lots of
props and stuff that they considered worthless, model maker Greg Jein (Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Star Trek) was on the spot ...and in heaven! Greg saw his chance and picked up a whole lot of 'screen used' Irwin Allen props, especially models & miniatures of the Sci-Fi series 'Lost in Space'! Take a ride in my Time Machine and fly back into the year 1982 to see the brimful Storage of Greg Jein! A Model Makers Paradise, full of 'Lost in Space' treasures! This Kodak transparency here shows the 'Chariot' miniature in the state in which Greg got it in the 70s. How great is that! What a photo! Greg Jein sold a few of his props to other fans and also carefully restored one or the other prop back to its original 'Lost in Space' configurations. The models & miniatures of 'Lost in Space' - Coming soon on the moon-city-garbage channel! |
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Original Kodak 35mm Slide - Storage of Greg Jein, 1982. Wow, look at the miniature figures of the Robinson family inside of the Chariot. I do not believe it ...there is even a small detailed B9 robot in the Chariot! I'm scanning more Slides for the Story, many never published before, others only in painful quality. Curious? |
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Spain has a large number of well-preserved and historically interesting castles, palaces and fortresses, which are often many centuries old but still have, in some cases, hardly changed until today. Such magical buildings of history are not only interesting for tourists, but were also early used as outstanding filming locations for large feature films. The photo, a Kodak 35mm transparency, shows Hollywood Star Charlton Heston in front of the 'Castillo de Torrelobaton' (Valladolid, Spain) on a nice promotion shot for the terrific Samuel Bronston epic 'El Cid', 1961. The colossal film is lifting quite a series of Spanish castles into the perfect light with beautiful staged scenes and stunning pictures. Such a movie makes every tourist office happy! The few days on site where a few small scenes were staged left a lasting impression in the small town of Torrelobaton and a few pesetas went into the wallets of the local residents, if they had the lucky chance to get a role as an Extra. The highly recommendable and award-winning documentation 'Bienvenido Mr.Heston' (available on DVD!) tells the thrilling story about the filming of 'El Cid' in Torrelobaton. |
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'Bienvenido Mr.Heston' - The 70 minutes documentation is much longer than the short scenes of Torrelobaton on the big screen in the movie 'El Cid'. Of course, people are proud of their own little movie history, and rightly so! Check out the website of the production to get more information: www.bienvenidomrheston.com |
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Castillo de Belmonte - Cuenca, Spain, 1961. During a break in filming 'El Cid' actor Charlton Heston uses the time off to explore the area around the castle of Belmonte on his white horse 'Babieca'. The castle, one of Spain's most beautiful national monuments and a very famous (international) filming location, lends authenticity to the Allied Artists film version of 'El Cid', in which Heston portrays the Spanish Hero. Note horse armor and medieval saddle, clashing sharply with Heston's off-duty American cowboy outfit. The wooden paneling and roofs on the castle towers were especially mounted for the film. When I visited the castle about 20 years ago and stood on one of the towers, I had to take a deep breath first. Not because the ascent was so exhausting, but because the tower was completely bare on its top, without any safety limits, no wall, no railing, nothing at all. A great view from up there, but who loses his balance, takes the quick way back and falls into the depths. The Castillo de Belmonte can be seen for example in the Ralph Bakshi animation fantasy epic 'The Lord of the Rings' and in the Sword & Sorcery flick 'Flesh & Blood', directed by Paul Verhoeven. |
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What a nice-looking jewelry box! - The 'Castillo de Manzanares El Real', Madrid, Spain, 1966. The Second Unit team of Director Joshua Logan is preparing a scene with Franco Nero for the Road-show Epic 'Camelot'. Lancelot (Nero) is fighting with some Norsemen. The scene will be filmed in front of the entrance gate of the castle. You can see the spotlights already in position to illuminate the actors (close-ups). The 'Camelot' production Crew visited several locations in Spain, with a clear emphasis on various magnificent spanish castles. For example the impressive 'Alcázar de Segovia' in Segovia (Castilla y Leon, Spain), which was a perfect backdrop for some splendid scenes. Another filming location of the movie was the spectacular 'Castillo de Coca' (Castilla y Leon, Spain), which obviously has deeply impressed the Crew, as it became the inspiration for a huge film set, the 'Castle of Camelot', built on the Warner Burbank backlot. |
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The 'Camelot' castle in construction on the Warner backlot, 1966. On ebay I managed to get a binder filled with rarely shown photo documents of the construction of the sets. More than enough for a smart little 'Set Construction Story' about 'Camelot', designed by Set Designer Edward Carrere (Taras Bulba, The Pleasure Seekers, The Wild Bunch). The whole Art Dep. did a wonderful job on the Show. Coming soon - The Construction of 'Camelot' and other Sets. |
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