Vultural

Earth Spirit - 1923 - 5/10
AKA - Erdgeist

Lulu proves hard to handle for her husband, Dr. Schoen.
Admirers flock in, including the doctor’s son, Lulu’s elderly pimp, and a strongman.
Why this is not coupled with every version of Pandora’s Box (1928) is beyond me.
In this version, Lulu is as innocent as syphilis.
The acting is theatrical, melodramatic, with broad gestures and heavy makeup.
Almost to a soul, every player over emotes with facial contortions.
Definitely merits a watch – once – then go back to the masterpiece by Pabst.
English subs = https://subscene.com/subtitles/earth-spirit/english/3242706

La Belle Époque - 2019 - 7/10

The satirical cartoonist, out of work since newspapers collapsed, receives an odd gift card.
A time trip. Where many might choose the era of Napoleon or the 1920’s, he chooses 1974.
The year he first met his wife, before their marriage soured.
Being an artist, he sketches the small cafe, interior and exterior, as well as fashions.
The recreation of a personal memory means errors may be spotted.
(I certainly noticed the music, and commented that “I’m A Believer” by the Monkees was circa 1966.)
This half of the film is magical, and so is the “other” half.
The behind-the-scenes, the actors playing parts, negotiating their own reactions and impulses.
A must for French film fans, and I am surprised Hollywood has not made a sugary pooh version.

A Girl In Every Port - 1928 - 5/10

Once ashore, first mate Spike studies his black book for addresses of every waiting females.
Most have not been waiting. Or they’ve been “tagged” by a rival seaman.
Of course, he will meet his competition – Bill – and after slugging it out, they become fast friends.
The innuendo and implications are steamy throughout, but the pace feels slow.
Victor McLaglen’s Spike is effervescent, larger-than-life, and buoyantly optimistic.
Most view this to see Louise Brooks, who arrives quite late.
She is given barely anything to do, aside from look attractive and tempt males, but oh, how she does both.

Oasis Of Fear - 1971 - 6/10
AKA - Un Posto Ideale per Uccidere

A pair of free spirits (not hippies) make their way from London to Italy.
Main income comes from peddling pornography.
Smutty photos, a no-no in Italy (?!!?), gets them kicked out.
Except, enroute to the south, they break into a house to swipe gasoline.
The owner is headcase, change-her-mind-on-a-dime, female.
Sexual games, mysteries, locked rooms, lies, excuses, absurd explanations.
The young couple, to be clear, a shady pair, are completely out of their depth.
How producers talked Irene Papas into this steamy Giallo is beyond me.
She dominates every scene, although the couple, young nude skin and plenty of it, are easy on the eyes.

Whitehead, Henry S - Little Orange Book Voodoo Tales

Edited by Thomas Tessier.
The opening story, “Jumbee”, is sprinkled with errors. Typos, misplaced commas, periods, etc …
I envisioned the galleys lined on a wall, while a child with a magical editing spray gun, peppered the pages with spaces, commas, colons, in giggling, festive exuberance.
The proofing of these “Little” books seems more haphazard, depending on the diligence of the editor.
Nevertheless, this is an atmospheric juicy selection of voodoo yarns.
Perhaps mostly desirable for those seeking Mr Tessier’s signature.

Wild Guitar - 1962 - 5/10

Country boy motorcycles into Los Angeles with a guitar and a suitcase full of songs.
Lucky breaks hits straightaway when a local TV performer is ill, so he steps before the camera.
No time flat, he is a smasharoo, babe.
Along comes the crooked manager, cynical studio musicians, fake publicity.
Sort of a cross between “A Star Is Born” with “So You Wanna Be A Rock N Roll Star”.
Arch Hall Jr. is winning in this, although I don’t “get” this guy in the doggone least.
Arch Hall Sr. steals the film as the wily promoter / agent.
Superb restoration by Nicolas Winding Refn on his website, though the audio mix is super low.

The World Of Suzie Wong - 1960 - 6/10

American executive, suffering, I suppose, a mid-life crisis, heads to Hong Kong to become a painter.
On limited means, he cannot afford respectable neighborhoods, so he rooms in a cheap hotel.
Only to realize it is actually a brothel – where he falls in love with the most popular girl working there.
The photography shines throughout, exotic and colorful.
William Holden is too old in some ways, other times he is just right. (It hurt that I read the bestselling novel and knew his character was much younger.
Nancy Kwan is spectacular in what should have been a career making role.
This was momentous viewing for a younger me, heightened after reading the novel.
I vowed to move to California, attend college there, then emigrate to Hong Kong.
My childhood plans proved difficult, though eventually doable.
Hong Kong, however, took me decades.

Malfi, Ronald - The Mourning House

Following personal tragedy, Sam Hatch, physician, pushes himself adrift.
Literally. He becomes, in the truest sense, a drifter. Traveling without purpose, without destination.
Until he spies an abandoned, rotting homestead off Tar Road.
Hatch buys the house, unaware or unconcerned about its history or characteristics.
Repairs underway, he discovers the home does have ghosts – the ones he carried with him.
A grief haunted novella, one of a series of miseries that Delirium seemed to favor during its heyday.
While I am not necessarily a huge fan of this writer, Malfi’s focus is keen, his hand steady throughout.

The Musketeers Of Pig Alley - 1912 - 7/10

Every rewatch of this Griffith gem is a potent reminder of how rapid his craft was developing at this stage.
The young couple struggle in a cheap apartment in the new York slum.
In a few minutes, the story packs in the dance hall, the rival gangs, the alley showdown.
While the audience is supposed to identify with and root for the newlyweds, the camera is irresistibly drawn to the flamboyant Snapper Kid. (Elmer Booth, who would be killed in 1915.)
D. W. Griffith stodgy? No, this is an exciting outing.

Divided We Stand - 2022 - 6/10
AKA - ZERV

After the wall comes down, Germany reunifies in the 1990’s.
Relaxed freedoms, and – Hey! What about all those East German weapons?
A tiny agency is formed to dispose of them, and ensure they don’t wind up in the wrong hands.
Thing is, major weapons are financially lucrative.
Politicians never seem to have enough money, while arms brokers have cash to splash.
Squabbling team members are East and West, cursed with assumptions and misunderstandings.
Based, not surprisingly, on actual events. Series bears dark humor throughout.

The Weavers: Wasn’t That A Time - 1982 - 7/10

Essential documentary of the highly influential group.
The Weavers bridged the gap between the Depression folk singers and the later protest songs of the 1960’s.
Much of this is set in Lee Hays’ farm, where an informal picnic leads to a final performance at Carnegie Hall.
Throughout, there is their history, the McCarthy era, and the defiant, sold-out concert at Carnegie in 1955 during the height of their blacklisting.
Something of a wistful turn here, realizing the folkie movement pretty much collapsed in the 1970’s, and has never again regained prominence.

The Old Oak - 2023 - 7/10

Sullen regulars watch in disgust as Syrian refugees come and go in their pub. THEIR pub!
Strikes or no strikes, the best days of the town were over by the 1990’s.
Now, do-gooders and government flunkies shuttle in busloads of Syrians.
More and more of them, into cheap (or free) accommodations and free perks.
“No charity for the homefolk?” one complains. Another notes, “I don’t see you moving them to Westminster or Chelsea.”
Ken Loach film is unflinching in showing both sides.
Grievances and desperation.

Brooks, Louise - Lulu In Hollywood

A book I have read and reread numerous times.
Except no, it is the Barry Paris biography I have read over and over.
This is an irresistible collection of Hollywood essays.

Incisive profiles of W. C. Fields, the Ziegfield artist extraordinaire, whose talents were butchered in the editing room.

The theatrical dynamo, Humphrey, contrasted with the legend, Bogart, with his tics and mannerisms,

Self-destructive Pepi Lederer, niece of Marion Davies, and parties at the sprawling Hearst estate.

Observations of and advice from the Bennett sisters, girlfriends and rivals.

A book much, much too short from someone who was there when the 1920’s roared.
Not to overlook a wonderful essay on G. W. Pabst.

Various (Editor: Diniz, Alcebiades) - Et Sic In Infinitum

Three tales from Raphus Press, along with a back catalogue indicating a prolific output.

Jonathan Wood’s “The Self’s Dark Monograph” eyes the book dealer / collector, whose obsession plagues his sleep. Dreams of books – lost, forgotten, imaginary – stack like dust covered tomes in moldy, dark rooms.

“On The Art” by John Howard and Mark Valentine, asks …
So how do you find the obscure bookshop? Not the one devoted to felines. Nor ones specializing in travel books.
No, the sorts that won’t even have a listing in Google. The ones whose very obscurity means it might, just MIGHT, carry something truly unique. Something our narrator has been seeking for years.

Brian Evenson’s “Lancastrer” catches up with the small time author. No, he is not a household name. He sells just enough to keep trying. Every year, on the road for a few months, the pointless meet & greets, talking to empty faces, signing books, shaking hands.
Exhausting himself, for what? The futility of immortality?
The ground shifts in Lancaster. Which one? They are all the same. The man with the black beard and homburg hat, he is there – then he is not – then he is back.
Our writer senses an ugly joke is unspooling. Knows one public reading too many might finish him. Unless he can steal the moment.

Zelazny, Roger - The Dead Man’s Brother

Wiley finds a dead man in his gallery. A bygone partner from his questionable youth. Police summoned, they do what most might do: assume Wiley did the deed and put him on ice. That is, until the CIA decide to spring him.

From this point on, this nutty yarn scampers from Langley to Rome to Brazil, as our man Wiley is coerced to find a missing Vatican moneyman.

The first half has a dynamic momentum and jumps around more than a grasshopper convention.

The second half bogs down in overly talkative passages, and lengthy exposition attempting to explain whatever the current mystery perplexes.

Despite Zelazny’s attempts to enliven proceedings with beatings, jungle escapes and bedspring romps, the tale grows ever stagnant until it reaches Dullsville.

Falowo, Dare Segun - Caged Ocean Dub

Imaginative and expansive collection of tales tinged with supernatural and folklore. Author Falowo draws from his Nigerian community, bringing stories steeped in war strife, daily struggles for existence, and what I can only term destiny.

One story weaves through the apprenticeship of hair braiding – a complicated art where mastery seems better attained by those who are called, over those who simply want a profession.

In a similar vein, a starving orphan is accepted into a hectic kitchen, popular with the wealthy and the elites. She is marked out, she has “the gift”. And while the meals, grand feasts, are sumptuous and unforgettable, they carry a heavy toll.

All of Falowo’s stories will expose the reader to new vistas. This is a collection for adventurers.

I do have an issue, however, and it is a sticky one. Every tale has several Nigerian words. I never read with a computer at hand. I am often lax about looking up words, especially when there are 2-3 unfamiliar, unguessable words per page. By the final section, the author seems to have realized this, and has begun to add brief definitions.

For the book, a glossary would have proved useful, although I can understand a publisher’s reluctance in adding one.

Angels Without Wings - 2006 - 6/10
AKA - Tsubasa no Oreta Tenshitachi // 翼の折れた天使たち

Late night J-dorama follows four different girls (one per episode) who have gotten lost in Tokyo.
One works as an escort so she can buy expensive fashions. Another makes adult films.
One works a phone sex line, another is lucky with gambling, unlucky in love.
Each receive unexpected assistance, guidance, and there is something of a closing moral.
I imagine most of the females are idols, trying to break into film.
Watchable, neither cloying nor preachy. Good stories for those about to fledge.
English subtitles = https://subscene.com/subtitles/tsubasa-no-oreta-tenshitachi-angels-with-broken-wings/english/3225492

Call Her Savage - 1932 - 7/10

Wild child Nasa (an incredibly sexy Clara Bow) leaves Texas for Chicago.
Has a fling with, and marries a cad. After he dumps her, well, no birth control in the 1930’s.
A hot Pre-Code flick breaks numerous taboos:
A gay bar, girl fights, half-breed allusions, excess alcohol, unwanted pregnancy.
Bow was near the end of her career by this point, with weight problems and national scandals.
Plus, like other Silent stars, she had an absolute phobia of the microphone.
Tawdry throughout, although her next and final film, Hoopla is another good Clara vehicle.

France, Anatole - The Queen Pedauque

Young Jacques, son of the popular local cook, assists his father by hand-turning the rotisserie.
Soft spoken, yet intelligent, he catches the eye of the roguish Friar Ange who offers to educate the lad in exchange for meals, and the occasional drop of wine.
All well and good, until the friar misbehaves most shamefully – one too many times.
Jacques then comes under the tutelage of Jérôme Coignard, doctor of divinity, master of arts.
From now on, the novel picks up tempo and rollicks along is an escalating series of picturesque adventures.
Escapades, philosophizing, drunken bouts, gambling, romance, sexual fumblings. Plus, once the mysterious cabalist, d’Asterac, arrives, expect fanciful pagan explanations for what one might previously view as the “normal” world.
Not exactly what I would call a page-turner, yet this was far more entertaining than anticipated, and I would not have minded reading a few hundred more pages.

A Haunting In Venice - 2023 - 6/10

Detective Hercule Poirot has retired to Venice.
He is not accepting new cases, absolutely not!
Nevertheless, he is intrigued by an upcoming séance. On Halloween night!
What follows is a locked-room mystery, with good elements and weak ones.
Nice assortment of characters with motives – and yes, there are deaths.
The set design is extraordinarily done; the house feels massive, gloomy, decaying.
Direction, at times, is heavy handed. Jump scares, ridiculously loud noises.
Expected of a horror B-movie, not Kenneth Branagh.

Kill Baby … Kill! - 1966 - 6/10
AKA - Operazione Paura

Points for brooding atmosphere, set design, Gothic photography.
Following yet another death, a doctor arrives in a remote village to autopsy the corpse.
A police inspector has already arrived and is being stone-walled by villagers.
Were the deaths murders or suicides?
One busy night, and a forced visit to Villa de Graps, yields an answer.
Stylish Mario Bava film rambles throughout, and the script has more gristle than meat.
Goofy US title, although my German print was Die toten Augen des Dr. Dracula.
This would benefit from being tightened, or trimmed here and there.

The Scarlet Claw -1944 - 7/10

Non-canon, but this late cycle Rathbone & Bruce adventure of Sherlock is one of the finest.
A series of deaths occur in a small Canadian village.
The beast appears to be a deranged beast, and superstitious villages feed the fears.
Holmes, eminently logical, begins to investigate.
Photography is outstanding in this, a fusion of Gothic and Noir.
The plot is a retooling of “The Hound Of The Baskervilles”, yet no lazy copycat.
Old-fashioned mystery, superbly done.

Christmas Carole - 2022 - 6/10

Sour holiday bon-bon starts with a flourish, adds extras throughout, ends in treacle.
Carole, president of her company, sells Christmas tat. Junk.
Overpriced festive twaddle, guaranteed to break and need replacing.
Yuletide profits, you dreamers.
Her merchandise is disposable, as are her employees.
Owing to numerous references, this is for Brits and Anglophiles.
(Test: Are you familiar with Morecambe and Wise?)
First two-thirds are pure gold, final act is the equivalent of penalty kicks.
English subtitles = https://subscene.com/subtitles/christmas-carole/english/3245914

Red Snow - 2021 - 5/10

Mid-Winter, a bat crashes into a windowpane, falls into the snow, bleeding.
I don’t know about you, but I would summon one of my cats and say, “Hey, snacks.”
Olivia, however, rescues the mite infested, rabies carrying varmint, and soon discovers it’s a vampire!
Slow boil horror flirts with Twilight territory, although the tone stays light and amused.
Respect to the crew for a smart, sharp film on a minuscule budget.
Ending is poorly thought out.
Despite holiday tropes, this is not the Yule beast you were hoping for.

Solaris - 1972 - 6/10

My first exposure to Tarkovsky, watched in 1977 was a cure for insomnia.
(Unfortunately, along with a plethora of SciFi’s at the Nuart, trying to cash in on the Star Wars phenomena.)
In between yawning and checking the theater clock, I sat there bewildered.
The crew of the station orbiting Solaris are exhibiting signs of madness.
A psychologist is dispatched, and he soon suffers hallucinations.
Most intriguingly, the planet is an organic being. An over-mind, or unisoul.
The plot is maddeningly vague, however, with nonexistent pacing.
I appreciate Tarkovsky more now, but even this recent rewatch, I cannot get into this one.