The wild side ....

We like a good catfight and here is a doozy, from another of our Guilty Pleasures: the 1962 campfest that is WALK ON THE WILD SIDE, as Stanwyck's lesbian madam lets haughty Capucine have it, We love Barbara and Cap here at The Projector and they go to town with this. I will have to see the whole movie again soon for a good wallow. It is a certified Trash Classic and a Bad Movie We Love, up there with VALLEY OF THE DOLLS etc. More Bad Movies We Love soon .....

Here is what we said about it a few years ago:
WALK ON THE WILD SIDE – Harvey again in another lulu from 1962 and one of the best trash classics ever, as directed by Edward Dmytryk with that pounding Elmer Bernstein score and that great credit sequence with the prowling cat. (Jazzman Jimmy Smith also had a hit with this theme). Laurence Harvey, as expressionless as ever, hunts for his lost love Capucine in the bordellos of New Orleans in the 1930s, from the well-known novel by Nelson Algren. The movie is quite tame though but the cast are fascinating: young Jane Fonda as Kitty Twist, on the road with Harvey and later in the cat house owned by Barbara Stanwyck who wants haughty sculptress Capucine for herself. There is something fascinating about Capucine, I just like watching her. Anne Baxter has a supporting role here as Teresina, the Italian café owner, who would like Harvey to stay on with her. It all comes to a steaming climax at Stanwyck’s cathouse … one to savour then.

I loved her in the movies

Another enjoyable addtion to the Christmas gift list is Robert Wagner's new book I LOVED HER IN THE MOVIES, his recollections of all the great actresses he knew and worked with, decade by decade, starting with the 1930s.

Whatever one thinks of Wagner as an actor, he is fairly lightweight and agreeable (insufferable movie snob Martin will probably think he should be a shoe salesman too, like his judgement on Kerwin Matthews) and, like Dirk Bogarde in England, Wagner knew everyone (he and Natalie visited the Bogardes in the South of France on one of their European trips). Unlike his contemporaries Jeff or Tab Hunter, Wagner was a Hollywood kid, growing up there - he went to school with Norma Shearer's son, so knew Norma well in her later retired years, and he dated Gloria Swanson's daughter, and writes affectionately about Gloria, she was not like Norma Desmond at all.

We also get affectionate tributes and stories on Irene Dunne, Rosalind Russell, Crawford, Davis (Natalie played her young daughter in THE STAR and she and Wagner were friends for a long time), Stanwyck, Loretta Young, Katharine Hepburn (whom he knew through friendship with Spencer Tracy with whom he co-starred twice), Claudette Colbert and Jean Arthur. He certainly moved in the right circles! 

There's also Lana Turner, Greer Garson, Susan Hayward (very helpful to the novice actor on WITH A SONG IN MY HEART, left), Ida Lupino, Jennifer Jones, Claire Trevor, Betty Grable, Ann Sheridan, Joan Blondell, Lucille Ball, Linda Darnell and Gene Tierney, the impossible Betty Hutton, as well as characters like Thelma Ritter, Maureen Stapleton and Eve Arden. Wagner knows too how difficult it was for actresses to maintain long careers ...

The 1950s saw him pals with Doris and Debbie, the young Marilyn, Janet Leigh, June Allyson, Jean Peters, Joan Collins, Angie Dickinson, Debra Paget. He was at Romanoffs that famous 1957 night when Jayne Mansfield usurped Sophia Loren's debut (left) - he later played Loren's husband in De Sica's THE CONDEMNED OF ALTONA in 1962 and writes very affectionately about her, and also Capucine (Cappy) from THE PINK PANTHER, There were some difficult ladies too - Shelley Winters for one! 
Joanne Woodward and Glenn Close also come in for some respectful praise, and of course there's Elizabeth Taylor, Audrey Hepburn, Julie Andrews and Natalie. 

Wagner, now in his mid-80s parlayed his looks into a long career on film and television. He was good enough for Olivier for his TV CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF in '76. Its always fun seeing him as PRINCE VALIANT in that wig! His first memoir PIECES OF MY HEART is an agreeable read about it all too. 
He was a 20th Century Fox boy and Natalie was a Warner Bros girl, so he got to know Jack Warner well too - and is hilarious about the abuse Warner heaped on Judy Garland (who would have been so ideal for GYPSY in 62 with Natalie), and he also recounts Vittorio De Sica's hilariously rude comment on Raquel Welch who was driving them mad with her delays on THE BIGGEST BUNDLE OF THEM ALL .... Star gossip does not get much better. As he says: "Movies and TV go on forever - only the delivery system changes ...".

The Lion & The 7th Dawn ....

A William Holden and Capucine double feature! and Audrey gets a look in too ...

Left: Capucine visits Hepburn and Holden on the set of PARIS WHEN IT SIZZLES;  right: Capucine, Audrey and Givenchy on a night out in 1972.

Audrey Hepburn and Capucine were indeed good friends - muck-rakers are even trying to suggest more about them now, but we are not going into that, we don't do unconfirmed gossip here. Both of them though had relationships with William Holden - it is now documented that he and Audrey had a romance during SABRINA in 1954 but due to his vasectomy she went on to marry Mel Ferrer. She and Holden were teamed again in PARIS WHEN IT SIZZLES (filmed in 1962 but not released until 1964, I found it unwatchable when finally caught up with it recently) but he was ageing rapidly as drinking a lot then .... By the early Sixties he was involved with French model turned actress Capucine - one of our favourites here, as per label items on her - and they did two films together. 

THE LION was filmed in Africa in 1962, directed by Jack Cardiff from a novel by Joseph Kessel, it is a fascinating re-view now. Its another of those 20th Century Fox CinemaScope and colour films that seldom get seen now. In it Capucine is the wife of game reserve warden Trevor Howard. Holden is her former husband who arrives as she asks him to visit as their daughter is growing up wild and getting too attached to the lion of the title. Pamela Franklin, just after playing Flora in THE INNOCENTS in 1961 score again as the tomboy daughter who has reared 'King' the lion since he was a cub and is now the only one who can handle him. Cardiff's memoir "Magic Hour" goes into the problems they had keeping Pamela Franklin safe when around the lion. It all ends rather predictably with Capucine looking very tailored in her African outfits. Holden of course had interests in wildlife in Africa so the project must have been one he was interested in.

Capucine was very effective too as the Eurasian facing the death penalty in THE SEVENTH DAWN in '64 where Holden gets involved with the ridiculously young Susannah York. The Malaysian setting is quite exotic, and Freddie Young's (LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, DR ZHIVAGO, etc.) photography adds to the moody, violent and lush atmosphere of the film, directed by Lewis Gilbert. I liked this a lot in 1964 but again it has hardly been seen since, Perhaps it is one of those films that goes unnoticed for some reason, despite having an excellent story, superb cast and breathtaking scenery. Although it is "entertainment" we see the brutal reality of how a dedicated (and duped) Marxist revolutionary lets deep, committed friendships fall to the wayside, in fact uses those very friendships, to further his political cause, as Dhana (Capucine) faces execution by the British if Holden cannot capture the rebel leader as time runs out ...

Like other "entertainments" of the time, like Rank's THE HIGH BRIGHT SUN in 1964 or Fox's THE LOST COMMAND in '66, it tells a fictional story against political unrest - whether in Malaysia, Cyprus, Algeria or ... 

Capucine also did those two comedies with Peter Sellers that we like a lot: the first PINK PANTHER in 1963 and the zany, madcap WHAT'S NEW PUSSYCAT? in 1965. How we loved that then .... and, as per label, we like her in SONG WITHOUT END with Dirk Bogarde, NORTH TO ALASKA with Wayne, and the delirious Trash Classic that is WALK ON THE WILD SIDE, also in '62.

Holden, after his great '50s roles, particularly for Billy Wilder, again looks older here, and the dyed hair does not help, but he had further hits with Peckinpah's THE WILD BUNCH in '69 and NETWORK in '76, as well as all those lesser items. 

Holden died in 1981 aged 63; Capucine committed suicide in 1990 aged 62, and Audrey died in 1993, aged 63, Susannah died in 2011, aged 72 ...

The Honeypot, 1967

THE HONEYPOT, filmed in Venice in 1966 and released in 1967, is a choice treat now, an acid comedy by Mankiewicz with  great role for Rex Harrison and three super ladies: Susan Hayward, Capucine and Edie Adams with two rising players on the sidelines: Maggie Smith (already a scene stealer as she proved in THE VIPs and THE PUMPKIN EATER) and Cliff Robertson. Its lensed by ace cameraman Gianni Di Venanzo and looks great. Talky yes, but when Mank is scripting and Rex and Maggie saying the lines bliss is assured. 

Inspired by a performance of his favorite play, Ben Johnson's "Volpone," Cecil Fox (Rex Harrison) devises an intricate plan to trick three of his former mistresses into believing he is dying at his opulent home in Venice. Fox hires William McFly (Cliff Robertson), a man of many trades including being a sometime actor to act as his secretary. Though the women have vast fortunes of their own, Fox depends on their greediness to bring them running. There is Merle McGill (Edie Adams), a Hollywood sex symbol; Princess Dominique (Capucine), who once took a cruise on Fox's yacht; and Lone Star Crockett (Susan Hayward), a Texas hypochondriac who travels with her nurse Sarah (Maggie Smith). 

As Fox and McFly act out their charade, Lone Star states to the other women that she is the only one entitled to the inheritance since she is Fox's common-law wife. Later that night as Sarah and William go out for drinks where Sarah tells of her daily routine of walking Lone Star at 3:00 AM to give her more sleeping pills to get through the night, William then excuses himself to make a phone call and Sarah, tired from her travels slips off to sleep for about an hour. When Lone Star is found dead later that morning from an overdose, Sarah immediately suspects William. Her suspicions are confirmed when she finds the roll of quarters missing from Lone Star’s bag in William’s room. 

She confronts William with her findings and he promptly locks her in her room demanding she keep her mouth shut about the whole situation. Fearing that William will now kill Fox, she uses the dumbwaiter that connects her room to his to pull herself up and warn him. Fox both praises her intellect and her stupidity, leaving Sarah slightly confused but relieved that she has forewarned Fox.

But Fox has one more trick up his sleeve, and Lone Star gets the last word in ..... to say any more would spoil the surprise. 

Harrison, in his fourth outing with Mankiewicz, relishes the witty dialogue, the three woman are all up to their usual level, though we do not see too much of Hayward as Lone Star. Her husband back in Georgia USA died during the shoot, and old pal Mank may have released her early so she could return home ... Capucine displays her usual haughly elegance and glamour as the impoverished princess, and Edie is as amusing as she was in LOVER COME BACK or LOVE WITH THE PROPER STRANGER. 
Maggie of course compels all the attention whenever she is on, particularly her scenes with Rex.   Its all probably a bit too talky and high-faluting for some, but certainly a treat if one is in the mood and ready to spend time with these fascinating people .... 
Susan went on to give us her Helen Lawson later that year in VALLEY OF THE DOLLS, but thats another post. Maggie of course later played nurse/companion to Bette Davis in DEATH ON THE NILE in 1978 where both were very droll. Mank had one more hit in store: SLEUTH in 1972. We love him of course for LETTER TO 3 WIVES, ALL ABOUT EVE, THE BAREFOOT CONTESSA, CLEOPATRA, THE GHOST & MRS MUIR etc, as per reviews, at label. Its a good late role for Rex too, after his Caesar for Mank in CLEOPATRA, THE YELLOW ROLLS ROYCE and MY FAIR LADY - unless one counts DR DOLITTLE or, heaven forbid, STAIRCASE! 

Dirk and Capucine in 1960 ...

Dirk Bogarde and Capucine posed for a lot of photos circa 1960, they year they made SONG WITHOUT END that ritzy biopic about Franz Liszt, as per this catche of photos by Peter Basch, which I had not seen before. 

It probably suited them to be seen as an item at the time, good publicity for both. She did spend some time at his country home of the time, as per his books including "Snakes and Ladders". They remained friends (though he was not very kind about her in his "Cleared For Take-Off" which covered her suicide in 1990), She was involved with William Holden by 1962 and they made two films together (THE LION in 1962, and THE SEVENTH DAWN in '64), there is also a photo of her here (Showpeople label) showing her visiting Holden and Audrey Hepburn on the set of PARIS WHEN IT SIZZLES, filmed in 1962 but not released until 1964 - I saw it the other day and its terrible, not even worth commenting on. Audrey had also been close with Holden during their SABRINA a decade earlier, but he was heavily drinking during their PARIS film. Audrey and Capucine were also friends ... 

And for more glamour here's Dirk with Julie in DARLING, 1965, and with Monica as MODESTY BLAISE ..... there's also pictures of Dirk with Julie AND Monica at that DARLING premiere in 1965, again see labels. 

and I had not seen this shot of Dirk as Gabriel in MODESTY BLAISE before either - in that op art cell!

Think pink !

Another old favourite on cable TV: so lets have another look at the original PINK PANTHER, an enduring comedy favourite from 1963, that year of great movies we like, such as CHARADE, THE BIRDS, THE LEOPARD, THE SERVANT, TOM JONES, BILLY LIAR .... THE PINK PANTHER, like COME SEPTEMBER (1961) and CHARADE is a glossy entertainment that should be compulsory viewing every few years. Its follow-up A SHOT IN THE DARK in 1964 was all Clouseau and was reasonably ok, but I never felt the need to see any of the other ones, and certainly not that remake ...

The trademark of The Phantom, a renowned jewel thief, is a glove left at the scene of the crime. Inspector Clouseau, an expert on The Phantom's exploits, feels sure that he knows where The Phantom will strike next and leaves Paris for Switzerland, where the famous Lugashi jewel 'The Pink Panther' is going to be. However, he does not know who The Phantom really is, or for that matter who anyone else really is...

The fun here is seeing that cast going through their paces. Sellers walks away with the film, Clouseau was meant to be a subsidiary character - Niven and Wagner are fine as the real jewel thief and his young accomplice. Claudia Cardinale as Princess Dahla is wonderful in one of her first English roles - she was also in Fellini's 8 and a half, and Visconti's THE LEOPARD that year. Then there is Capucine, doing slapstick with her haughty glamour and wearing Dior. The long bedroom scene with her and Sellers was marvellous on the big screen, as was the long fancy dress party and those cars whizzing around before the very funny courtroom trial at the end, as Clouseau has to explain how his wife can save so much from the housekeeping to pay for her furs .... 

The whole look of the film captures that early Sixites vibe perfectly, at the ski resort of Cortina D'Ampezzo as Brenda De Banzie gushes over the princess and Fran Jeffries sings that "Meglio Stasera" ("It had better be tonight") to the apres-ski crowd. It is one of Blake Edwards' hits and one of  Henry Mancini's best scores. 1965's WHATS NEW PUSSYCAT? from Clive Donner was more of the same, capturing the mid '60s nicely as again Peter Sellers was chasing Capucine, while O'Toole and Romy and the others grooved to a Burt Bacharach soundtrack ...  Like those early Bonds, THE PINK PANTHER is essential early Sixties. 

Showpeople - another batch of fab photos

I have loved WHATS NEW PUSSYCAT? since I was 19 in 1965, as per other reports here, but had not seen this group pose before ! 

Rock, Cary, Marlon, Greg Peck - what are they watching? Who is the odd one out? - Peck, no gay or bi- rumours about him!

LET'S MAKE LOVE again, with the Montands and the Millers - see previous post with Frankie Vaughan.

 Audrey and Capucine stepping out with Givenchy in 1972.

Marilyn and Elizabeth Taylor - maybe the only time they ever photographed together or in the same room - at Sinatra's concert at The Sands in 1961. Below, is another shot, with Peter Lawford on stage.

One I had not seen before: Rock and Sophia in the early 60s. He filmed with Gina (twice) and Claudia, but never with Loren ...

Sophia - smoking! -  with Greg in 1962 when she presented him with his Oscar, and in 1993 when he presented her with her second one. 

And once again, that amusing shot of them with Joan Crawford and Maximilian Schell back in 62 .... as per other reports here.

And thst glamorous Royal Film Performance lineup in 1966, with Julie Christie, Leslie Caron, Warren, Catherine Deneuve, Christopher Lee and Ursula Andress .... 

And this FUNNY LADY Royal presentation ... Barbra, Caan, with a re-united James Stewart and Lee Remick ...

Fellini Satyricon

FELLINI SATYRICON. It is rather odd returning to FELLINI SATYRICON after 40 or so years, as I had not seen it since 1970. It plays like a dream – or a nightmare, with some of the most vivid images one can imagine, as we wander through that pansexual vision of Ancient Rome with Encolpio (blond Martin Potter) and Ascilto (dark Hiram Keller, 1944-1997), friends who were enemies over their infatuation with Giton (Max Born) a coquette who preferred Ascilto. 

The boys have their comic adventures as they take in that decadent feast filled with grotesques presided over by a former slave, Trimalcione, now filthy rich; then are kidnapped by pirates on that very odd ship where Encolpio has to “marry” pirate leader Alain Cuny (who is soon decapitated as a new regime takes over) …. A silent Capucine presides over the ceremony. Later the boys encounter that hermaphrodite god whom they kidnap, witness the wealthy couple freeing their servants before committing suicide, frolic with each other and that slave girl ….

On and on it goes until Enclopio is left alone, after the death of Ascilto, and after fighting that Minotaur, as he goes off with another band of sailors to have more adventures. All one can say is that it looks staggering, Fellini fills the screen with the oddest oddballs (mysterious whores, hedonists, gluttons) and amazing sets (Danilo Donati) conjuring up frightful visions of a corrupt ancient world. Martin Potter looks perfect here and had some other roles, but nothing to equal this (see review of GOODBYE GEMINI at Potter, Trash labels, and we will be seeing his ALL COPPERS ARE... from 1972 shortly).

Federico described it as "Science fiction of the past" - and its certainly one of the more vivid views of the ancient world.

Others involved are Lucia Bose, fashion model Donyale Luna, Magali Noel, Salvo Randone. It is all very fragmented, in the style of Petronius, but it certainly one to keep and return to, from that great 1969-70 era when cinema was getting very adventurous. In that pre-internet world (and only 3 tv channels here in the UK) movies were very important to us, as we (in our early 20s) rushed to see Visconti’s THE DAMNED, this Fellini, Antonioni blowing up America in ZABRISKIE POINT, Ken Russell sexing up D H Lawrence and Tchaikovsky and that version of Gore Vidal’s MYRA BRECKINRIDGE ….no wonder it was a time of experiemental oddball movies and great music as young people forged their own entertainments without being derailed by social networks, cellphones, computer games and all the rest of today's distractions ...

Pussycat ! - a summer re-run.

WHAT'S NEW PUSSYCAT? from 1965, is a key '60s movie for me,which I just found myself defending over at IMDB, where someone considered it one of the worst movies ever made. As I said: I can quite well accept its one of the worst films ever made but thats part of the attraction, if you were 19 in 1965 (as I was) and saw it at the cinema with your friends and we all laughed ourselves silly and liked the cast, it remains a cherished memory, and the height of mid-60s chic. glamour  and zaniness. 

My pals Stan and Michael and I adored it back in the '60s and returned to it several times in that pre-video world. Stan and I used to quote lines from it to each other ("Miss Lefebvre [Capucine's real name...] your face is like the pale autumn moon" "What did you say?" etc; of course Sellers and Cap were also hilarious in the original PINK PANTHER). O'Toole, Sellers and Woody + the delirious quartet of Romy, Capucine, Paula and Ursula AND Fellini's Edra Gale ! (Ursula dropping in by parachute and saying "Whats that thing?" when she sees Edra in the Viking get-up, and as she says to Peter O'Toole "Come back to bed immediately...". Whats not to like ? - even my French favourite chanteuse Francoise Hardy pops up at the end after that madness at the country hotel and they all going off on go-karts! 

Left: lovely shot of Romy & Peter - he certainly worked with them all: the 2 Hepburns, Loren, the PUSSYCAT gals ...

I just can't believe its 47 years ago ... I had the funky Burt Bacharach soundtrack album as well...and I just love the look of it, as helmed by Clive Donner. For me it and MODESTY BLAISE are the mid-60s stylish comic peaks. 

Even now the memory of Woody chasing Romy around, O'Toole and Capucine trapped in the elevator, Cap pretending to be the cleaner when Romy walks in, the language class repeating everything O'Toole and Romy say, Paula's suicide attempts, those fantastic costumes they wear .... and then they all running around the hotel etc.