Maciste In Hell (1925)

MACISTE IN HELL  (1925)  ¢ ¢ 1/2

    D: Guido Brignone 

    Bartolomeo Pagano, Umberto Guarracino,

    Elena Sangro, Lucia Zanussi, Pauline Polaire,

    Franz Sala, Domenico Serra, Mario Saio

A legendary strongman gets tricked by a devil and ends up in hell, where there's a new rule: If he kisses a female demon within three days, he has to stay forever. And with all those provocative demons lounging around in their pre-Code costumes, it's going to be tough. Fortunately, there's another rule: If you're mentioned in a little kid's prayers back on earth, you win a get-out-of-hell free card. It's an old-style vision of hell - the Italians always knew how to do that - but the technique looks primitive - more 1910 than 1925. Whoever landed the pitchfork concession made a bundle on this. 

Quote File / Take 27

 

Some lines from the movies of Terence Stamp:

"I've said it before and I'll say it again: No more 

  fucking ABBA."

  Stamp in "The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert"

"Well, you did your job, so I suppose I can't kill 

  your wife."

  Stamp to Dalip Singh in "Get Smart"

"The universe is full  0f surprises." 

  Stamp in "Red Planet"

"A woman like you does more damage than she 

  can conceivably imagine." 

  Stamp to Julie Christie in "Far From the Madding Crowd"

"I love the movies."

  Stamp in "My Wife Is an Actress"

"No one ever really disappears. They're always 

  around somewhere." 

  Stamp in "Last Night In Soho"

                                             (1938-2025)

Lawless Heart (2001)

 

LAWLESS HEART  (2001)  ¢ ¢ ¢ 1/2

    D: Tom Hunsinger, Neil Hunter

    Bill Nighy, Tom Hollander, Douglas Henshall, 

    Sukie Smith, Clémentine Célarié, Josephine Butler,

    Ellie Haddington, Stuart Laing, Dominic Hall

A bittersweet comedy about lives connecting and coming apart in the aftermath of a funeral. The story spins out and doubles back on itself as various characters move into and out of the spotlight. A dog, a scarf, a corkscrew, an old movie projector and some coconuts all figure into the script. Keep an eye on Douglas Henshall as a fereeloading opportunist named Tim and see if he doesn't remind you of an "Alfie"-era Michael Caine.

Helen of Troy (1956)

 

HELEN OF TROY  (1956)  ¢ ¢ 1/2

    D: Robert Wise

    Rossana Podesta, Jacques Sernas, Cedric Hardwicke,

    Niall MacGinnis, Torin Thatcher, Harry Andrews,

    Brigitte Bardot, Stanley Baker, Robert Douglas,

    Ronald Lewis, Nora Swinburne, Janette Scott

The Trojan War, with massive battle scenes, lavish production design, thousands of extras and a talky script. Oh, and there's a big, wooden horse. You'll need to brush up on your Homer to keep track of all the characters, but there is an on-screen credit for "Bacchanal Choreography," so at least they got that right. Brigitte Bardot has a supporting role as Andraste, Helen's devoted slave, but if you're making a movie about Helen of Troy and Brigitte Bardot's in it, shouldn't Helen be played by Brigitte Bardot?

La Chimera (2023)

 

LA CHIMERA  (2023)  ¢ ¢ ¢

    D: Alice Rohrwacher

    Josh O'Connor, Carol Duarte, Isabella Rossellini,

    Vincenzo Nemolato, Giuliano Mantovani,

    Ramona Fiorini, Gian Piero Capretto

An archeologist just out of prison for grave robbing falls back in with the gang of thieves who set him up. With an uncanny ability to locate buried antiquities, he and his divining rod go back to work, and what he uncovers this time could either make him rich or get him killed. There's a lot of early Fellini in this, with the outlaws doubling as a ragtag group of actors, and a touch of magic realism and a dash of "The Lost King" thrown in. And there's a moral: If you want to make a killing in contraband Etruscan art, be rich. If you're not, they'll let you do the dirty work, but when it comes to the big score, and maybe staying out of jail, forget it. You're screwed.

How To Stuff a Wild Bikini (1965)

HOW TO STUFF A WILD BIKINI  (1965)  ¢ ¢

    D: William Asher

    Annette Funicello, Dwayne Hickman, Mickey Rooney,

    Buster Keaton, Brian Donlevy, Harvey Lembeck,

    Beverly Adams, Jody McRae, Len Lesser,

    Ilene Tsu, Marianne Gaba, Frankie Avalon

Frankie's off in the South Pacific with the Naval Reserve, but the rest of the gang is still hanging out at the beach. The plot? It don't matter. Buster Keaton, Mickey Rooney and Brian Donlevy are in it, and there's some back projection that looks terrible (but who cares?), and Dobie Gillis fills in for Frankie, because Annette has to not hook up with somebody (and she's still the only girl in Malibu not wearing a bikini). An undemanding time filler, from a more innocent time maybe, innocuous, even by "Beach Party" standards. The Kingsmen show up long enough to play a tune, but it's not "Louie Louie".

Lourdes (2009)

 

LOURDES  (2009)  ¢ ¢ ¢ 1/2

    D: Jessica Hausner

    Sylvie Testud, Léa Seydoux, Bruno Tedeschini,

    Elina Löwensohn, Gilette Barbier, Gerhard Liebmann

For those not steeped in Catholic lore and legend, Lourdes is a place in France where the Virgin Mary is said to have made a personal appearance, witnessed by a peasant girl named Bernadette, in 1858. For a long time since then, Lourdes has been a place where crippled, sick, paralyzed and otherwise debilitated pilgrims go to pray to the Virgin for relief from their afflictions. If the way it's depicted in this quiet, meditative movie is accurate, Lourdes isn't just about faith and healing. It's a whole tourist industry that makes the Dickeyville Grotto look like, well, the Dickeyville Grotto. (You don't know about the Dickeyville Grotto? Then never mind.) One of those who comes to Lourdes is a young woman in a wheelchair, a paraplegic named Christine, played with beatific stillness by Sylvie Testud. She admits she goes on these religious excursions not so much because she believes, but to escape her confined existence. (She prefers cultural outings to religious ones.) To reveal what happens to Christine at Lourdes would reveal too much, but the movie tracks her stay there with restraint and a documentary-like detachment that both acknowledges and transcends the kitsch that surrounds her. The rationalizations the tour group leaders provide for God's role in all this seem pretty hollow. Testud's performance is anything but.