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| January | February | March | April | May | June |
| July | August | September | October | November | December |
| The woods are lovely, dark and deep. But I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep. |
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| JUNE 2016 |
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This Blog will be offering a colorful kaleidoscope of movie magic for cinema aficionados. Crispy peanuts, colorful baloons and thrilling sensations on celluloid. See offbeat goodies and magic crumbs ...weekly! I was a little uninspired in May, but I promise to offer some crude surprises this June! |
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'Trapped' aka 'Forever Mine' or 'Trapped Alive' is a rough and comatose exploitation flick of the late 80s (1988). An underground stomper for trash fans with sleazy backwoods maniacs and a relaxed cannibalistic grandpa. The scenes with the deformed grandpa in the abandoned mine are effectivly and surprisingly atmospheric. Whenever cannibal grandpa is getting hungry he goes on the hunt for meat. And Gentlemen prefer blondes. But a little bit of blood, guts, nudity and Cameron Mitchell can not hide the rudimentary character of the movie ...and the nasty DVD release. Howsoever, I'm quite a fan of these courageously and absolutely death-defying mistrials of small Studios during the golden years of direct-to-video releases. Expect nothing and let yourself be surprised. |
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Excellent latex mask of the cannibal monster in
'Trapped'. Mark Armstrong, vice president, set builder and studio manager of 'Windsor Lake Studios Ltd.' holds the fine mask of the cannibalistic wildman. I'm not sure, but I think Hank Carlson was responsible for the professionally monster mask and the fx work in 'Trapped'. |
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Christopher Webster (left) and Mark Armstrong, the owners of Windsor Lake Studios, pose on a railroad set
outside the Studio, 1990. Webster (executive producer of 'Hellraiser'), wearing a cop uniform, was playing an extra in 'The Inheritor', another 'Windsor Lake' production. The Bruce Campbell flick 'Mindwarp' (1992) might be the last 'Windsor Lake' adventure and the Studio closed its doors shortly after that. One of the many small studios which were administratively dissolved after the gold rush. |
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CON AIR is a highly entertaining, fast-paced Action movie with some extraordinary visual effects sequences, excellent model construction and stunning hi-speed miniature work. A great fun-filled thrill ride that offers the best of everything! |
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A smart thriller needs a brilliant cast. John Malkovich is the ultra-villain Cyrus 'The Virus', the mastermind of the hijacking plot. Simply awesome! Well, lets have a look at a couple of scenes just barely described so far. |
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The filming of 'Pinball' (Dave Chappelle) kissing the old Volvo! Greenscreen shot of Pinball matted into air footage of L.A.(?). |
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| Don Davis and Barbara Sharma in the Volvo shortly before Pinball's corpse lands on the Volvo. |
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...and there he comes! Cameron Poe (Nicolas Cage) scribbled a message to U.S. Marshal Vince Larkin on Pinball's T-Shirt. |
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The crew of physical effects Supervisor Paul Lombardi shot the crash landing scene of the corpse at South Grand Avenue and West 6th St, Downtown, Los Angeles. |
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A 'Pinball' puppet hanging on wires from a crane. The heavy weight puppet can be released on cue from the platform above the Volvo. |
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| Hit! 'Pinball' crashes into the prepared Volvo. Uuh, that hurts. |
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| The Eagle has landed. |
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| High speed fog smoke generators and pyrotechnics (?) support the success of the scene. |
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| A very convincing scene, well staged, a perfect success! |
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'Sir, are you insured against low-flying corpses?' Physical Effects Supervisor Paul Lombardi ('X-Files', the ingenious 'K-Pax', 'Casino') is checking how it looks in the car and if everything runs perfectly. Pinball looks good, the Volvo, a case for the scrapyard. |
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A 1964 postcard view of 'The Beverly' cinema announcing 'Dr.Strangelove'. The Beverly opened May 18. 1925 and was built for Beverly Hills real estate mogul Daniel Quinlan. The elegant Cinema in Beverly Hills, 206 N. Beverly Dr., had a whole series of different operators over the years. It was originally designed in the Indo-Chinese style, but was later remodeled into an Art Deco style theater. Above the theater’s facade was the famous hallmark of The Beverly, the large oriental-type dome. The Beverly was equipped for 70mm and was running roadshows in the 60's and had a seating capacity of 1270. The last operator General Cinema closed The Beverly in 1977, the building was demolished in 2005. |
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The good old times of The Beverly. A glamorous invitational premiere of the Samuel Bronston epic '55 days at Peking', May 29, 1963. Flashlights, excitement, crowds of people ...and movie Stars! |
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Large crowds as well in Paris, France. Charlton Heston, one of the Stars of '55 days in Peking', can hardly get out of the car. Mr.Heston with his wife Lydia attend the premiere of the movie '55 Days At Peking' in Paris, May 9, 1963. |
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| The crowd is going crazy as Charlton Heston climbs on the roof of the car. Paris, 1963. |
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| Your comments are always welcome! |
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A neat 'Warner Archive' release. 'Marlowe' is a groovy, smooth-running sixties crime movie with James Garner, sexy Rita Moreno and excellent supporting players (H.M.Wynant, Jackie Coogan, Carroll O'Connor, Bruce Lee). Bruce Lee offers a good show. He is Winslow Wong, the number one torpedo of Gangster Sonny Steelgrave (H.M.Wynant). Wong karates Marlowe's office into a junk pile. During another jolly dance with Marlowe (Garner) Wong falls from a balcony and learns to fly (but not to land). Bruce Lee was the fight choreographer on 'Marlowe' and showed Garner a few tricks. |
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James Garner gumshoes through a soul-scarred Los Angeles. He plays Marlowe, a cool and witty private eye. The platinum blond sensation Rita Moreno celebrating a strip tease in the 'Pink Pussy Cat' club steals the show. |
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| The Dolores Gonzáles (Rita Moreno) Show - 'Pink Pussy Cat' |
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| James Garner - Rita Moreno |
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| A blond butterfly ...with smooth movements. |
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Backstage at the 'Pink Pussy Cat'. Rita Moreno and James Garner during a break. The two got along very well. Rita later played with James Garner in the Hit TV Show 'The Rockford Files'. Another entertaining and fairly convincing little crime flick with James Garner is 'They only kill their Masters', 1972. Shortly after 'Marlowe' James Garner took a flight to Spain to play the lead in the Vic Morrow Spaghetti Western 'A Man Called Sledge'. |
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| Marlowe enjoys the show... |
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The Dancing Queen bombshell of the 'Pink Pussy Cat'. Rita Moreno won the Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for her role in 'West Side Story', 1961. |
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It's quite a thrilling experience to watch the superior choreographed dogfight sequences in 'Battle of Britain'. The big scale war epic features many memorable scenes. All the Makers and Players have worked at the highest level. The orchestration of the 'bombing' show of Physical Effects Supervisor Cliff Richardson (1905–1985) is great art! British Sp/fx veteran Cliff Richardson (Captain Horatio Hornblower, The African Queen, Alexander the Great, Lawrence of Arabia, The Dirty Dozen, Zeppelin,...) and his crew had to blow up a huge World War I 'Belfast Truss Hangar' at Duxford, Cambridgeshire, for the 'Eagle Day' episode. 'Eagle Day' - The destruction of the RAF on the ground. |
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The German Luftwaffe bombed the RAF Duxford airfield - 'Battle of Britain', Summer 1968. The small photo is Duxford today, home of the Imperial War Museum. Duxford was an abandoned airport, overgrown with weeds and in a rundown condition, as Harry Saltzman and Ben Fisz got the permission to use it as location for the movie. The airfield still had much of its wartime infrastructure, but a lot of money had to be invested, to get it back into action for the filming of 'Battle of Britain'. Visit the Museum here: Imperial War Museum. |
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| Duxford - Kenneth More and Susannah York see something coming... |
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| Take cover! On the right side, the huge 'Belfast Truss Hangar'. |
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| Historical photo showing the 'Belfast Truss Hangar' built 1917-18 at Duxford. |
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Movie Scene. The bombs are getting closer. The Hangar has an enormous size. The large doors are open and we can see a full-size wood and fibreglass Spitfire mock-up. |
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Physical Effects Supervisor Cliff Richardson orchestrated the Duxford bombing with mortar (metal cone) explosions. For the 'Belfast Truss Hangar' he has come up with something special, grand scale. |
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| Group Capt. Baker (Kenneth More) can hardly believe what is going on... |
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Bang! A huge fireball roars through the roof of the hangar. The crew removed the old heavy asbestos sheeting and replaced it with lightweight plastic, most of it was 'eaten' by the fireball. Another monstrous wall of fire crawls on highspeed through the hangar and shoots through the huge doors. Cliff Richardson built two improvised mortars ( 'fougasse charges') with oil drums of petrol for this demanding task. One was used horizontally for the hangar doors and the other vertically for the roof fireball. |
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The horizontally mortar effect unleashed a 150 feet long and 50 feet high fire dragon which blew the mock-up Spitfire and the hangar doors on the concrete runway. Wham! Ordinary flames often appear transparent on film so every FX expert adds 'his' mix of chemicals to provide 'color' for a better visual effect (gas, petrol, paraffin, black powder, magnesium flash powder ...). |
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For the smoothly collapse of the building the old 'Belfast Truss Hangar' was gutted. Most partition walls were knocked down to weaken the structure, before the FX boys drilled holes in the remaining brick piers for the cartridges of explosives. All explosives were linked together with Cordtex detonating fuse. Cordtex is a type of detonating cord generally used in mining. Richardson used Cordtex (fuse of high velocity!) to "daisychain" a sequence of explosives together. All demolition charges were fired simultaneously, for a perfect 'bomb hit' effect. Flash charges were used to light up the interior of the hangar. The amount of planning that went into the 'Belfast Truss Hangar' Explosion scene was immense, as the boys had only one attempt. A first-rate spectacular and a visually compelling effect! |
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The 'Belfast Truss Hangar' after Cliff Richardson pressed the button... (Photo by Adrian Allain). Richardsons boys actually did more damage to Duxford than the German Luftwaffe (!) |
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| 'Battle of Britain' - The 'Belfast Truss Hangar' blown up! |
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| Movie Scene with Susannah York at Duxford. |
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| Duxford - Filming the scene, Summer 1968. Photo by Adrian Allain. |
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Snacks
after the fireworks. Susannah York talking with the famous RAF Officer Peter Townsend, best known for his romance with Princess Margaret. Peter Townsend was one of several military advisors for 'Battle of Britain'. |
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Duxford, 1968. Susannah York in a pleasant conversation with Kenny More and Peter Townsend. The World War II aircraft flying at low altitude have impressed her. The photo on the right shows Peter Townsend at Duxford with his camera. He accompanied the complete filming, did hundreds of photos and visited all the locations, even in Spain. What happened with this interesting material? |
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Greetings from Duxford, Summer 1968. Susannah York, technical and tactical advisor 'Ginger' Lacey, Kenneth More, British Military advisor Peter Townsend and technical and tactical advisor Robert Stanford-Tuck sitting on a Spitfire. |
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'The Longest Day', 1962. French Stuntman and Actor Gil Delamare with a 'Rupert doll' and Producer Darryl F. Zanuck in Sainte-Mère-Eglise, France. The 'Rupert dolls' were little rubber dummies which were parachuted into Normandy by the SAS during the early hours of D-Day. A diversionary tactic to sow confusion. The dummies were wired to explode on impact with the ground. The movie 'Rupert' was sculpted by miniature expert Charles-Henri Assola with great attention to detail. The 'Ruperts' look like high-quality toy dolls. The real ones used in World War II were actually very simple canvas 'paradummies', not effective at close range, but very impressive from a distance at night. The 'ghost' paratroopers were designed to burst into flames when they landed so the Germans could not find them. The Germans thought these were American paratroopers and they fought furious battles with the 'Ruperts'. Gil Delamare (1924-1966) was one of boys hanging on a facade of Sainte-Mère-Église. A very famous Stuntman, Actor and Special Effects expert in France. Especially known for his numerous and risky Car stunts. In 1966 he had a fatal car crash during a stunt scene for the Christian-Jaque film 'The Saint Lies in Wait'. Stunt performer Gil Delamare, doubling for Jean Marais, did a rough rapid turning in a Renault Caravelle convertible, which overturned and killed him. Delmare worked on many wild films, but the ingenious 'FANTOMAS' movies are all great art!. |
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Renato Casaro is a very famous Italian Poster Artist and Illustrator. He is the genius behind some of the greatest movie posters over many decades of film history in Europe. Casaro designed and painted several remarkable posters for productions of movie mogul Dino de Laurentiis (Conan, Dune,...). He painted many prominent posters for Bud Spencer & Terence Hill movies and was responsible for dozens of colorful 'Spaghetti Western' posters. His posters lured people into the movie theater. There is a highly recommended book available on ebay from time to time, 'Renato Casaro - Movie Art' (out-of-print). Check out the website of Renato for all the informations you want about him: http://www.casaro-renato-art.com |
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For the Wolfgang Petersen (Director) multi-million-dollar science fiction hit 'Enemy Mine', Renato Casaro painted a colorful movie poster with intensely-colored skies and planets. Pictured here is a piece of the key art for the 'Enemy Mine' poster. Awesome! |
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| Renato Casaro talking with Sergio Leone during an exhibition of his artwork. |
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'Enemy Mine' Director Wolfgang Petersen in the brand-new and colossal size Stage 9 of the Bavaria Studios in Munich, Germany, 1985. The crew of Production Designer Rolf Zehetbauer ('Raumpatrouille Orion', 'Das Boot',...) built the enormous 'Boiling Pools' Set on the huge Stage 9. The hostile, visually harsh and bizarre surface of the planet Fyrine IV. |
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On the 'Boiling Pools' Set on Stage 9, from left to right: Production Designer Rolf Zehetbauer, Director Wolfgang Petersen, Cinematographer Tony Imi and Executive Producer Stanley O'Toole. |
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| A little blurry Kodak Slide (35mm), but a document of film history. Final touches on the 'Boiling Pools' Set. |
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Executive Producer Stanley O'Toole ('Outland') had to bring 20 tons of lava rocks to Munich for a perfect look. They re-built real rock formations of the volcanic island of Lanzarote in detail on the Studio Stage with this material. |
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Rolf Zehetbauer is a brilliant Production Designer, Art Director and Set Decorator. He won an Academy Award in the category Best Art Direction for the film 'Cabaret' (1972). As Production Designer on 'Enemy Mine' he was responsible for the 'Look' of the movie. His 'Boiling Pools' Set is a masterpiece of set design. It's an all-round panoramic Set with seething craters (gas and smoke FX) and steep cliffs, everything in earthy red hues. An absolutely impressive stage set! The film also boasts excellent model work, marvelous visual effects and matte paintings and the terrific prosthetic makeup FX by Chris Walas and Stephan DuPuis. It's a damn good movie! |
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| Early Production Painting for the 'Boiling Pools' Set of 'Enemy Mine'. |
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Actor Dennis Quaid and Director Wolfgang Petersen on the Canary Island of Lanzarote, Spain, 1985. Petersen did location shooting for 10 days in the 'Parque Nacional de Timanfaya' in an area called 'Montañas del Fuego', Mountains of Fire. More of the fine 'Enemy Mine' very soon in this theater. |
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