Perversione!

At the beginning of the 1970's, Marisa Mell was at the peak of her movie career in Italy and around the world, especially in Latino countries and the French speaking region of Europe and Canada. In a span of only several years during that period, she made around twenty movies, as a leading actress, or more than often in a supporting role, which the Italian movie industry called "con la participatione di Marisa Mell". Most of those movies are now long forgotten but some of them have reached cult status, especially the movies she made for the Spanish movie production company "Emaus". Those movies were "Pena de Muerte", "Infamia" and "La Encadenada".  La Encadenada, also known in English as "Diary of an Erotic Murderess", sigh, is regarded by a lot of Marisa Mell fans as part of her top three best movies, next to "Danger: Diabolik!" by Mario Bava and "Una Sull'Altra" by Lucio Fulci. The Italian coproducer "Metheus Films" gave the movie the Italian title "Perversione" for a first time screening during the month of May 1975. To promote this movie the Italians created some of the best lobby cards or "fotobusti" ever made for a Marisa Mell movie. Almost all of these lobby cards have Marisa Mell  in a very prominent position from a movie scene, together with a little frame with another scene of the movie. Sadly the movie was not a box office success but, as said, luckily during the passing years became a cult favorite!

The Color Slides with the song "Long Flowing Hair"

In the past I have often told on this blog that Marisa Mell is still an inspiration for present day creative people like singers, songwriters, designers, comic book artists... Today's entry is from the group "The Color Slides" with their song "Long Flowing Hair". The group members are Alaattin Cicek (vocals and guitar), Judy Trengrove (bass) and Tony Umiliani (drums). Words and music by Alaattin Cicek. The song was recorded at Sanctuary Studios in late August 2011. Producer was Alaattin Cicek. The song was published by Trabzon Records. The movieclips are taken from the movie "Una Sull'Altra" from 1969 by Lucio Fulci. Enjoy!

Tee with Marisa Mell at Zara's in Graz!

Although Marisa Mell left us almost 20 years ago, and not being that famous like other actresses like Marilyn Monroe who have also gone to the other side, she is still, as I have often written, very present in the conscience of a group of people, mostly those who are fascinated with Eurocult movies, especially the Italian ones or who are working in the creative business like movies, television, art or... in this case the fashion industry. So it was nice to see that the global Spanish fashion house "Zara" sold this spring 2011 in her stores a black T-shirt with the image of Marisa Mell on front of it.

The image on the T-shirt comes from the 1969 giallo movie "Una Sull' Altra" directed by cult director Lucio Fulci with Jean Sorel and Elsa Martinelli as the other protagonists next to Marisa Mell. As you can imagine the image of a kneeling Marisa Mell in front of Jean Sorel trying to open his trousers' zipper to have oral sex was, and still is, one of the most shocking images to be seen in this movie, lobby card or billboard even at the end of the 60's when the sexual liberation in the Western world was in full swing. It was not a sight that was often seen in a movie at that time even in any kind of movie! You had to wait untill the 1972 X-movie "Deep Throat" with Linda Lovelace to take it to a new level in oral erotica on the silver screen.

So powerfull was this image that the American distributor of the movie changed the title into "Perversion Story" to accommodate the image with a appropriate titel. Thus making this film look like a very sleazy movie. Everything for the box office!

With or without a sleazy title the movie did very well in the world and is now regarded among giallo fans as one of the top 10 movies of the genre!

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Thanks to Jochen from Graz for pointing this one out in his home town. Jochen is a big Eurocult fan covering every aspect of the genre. He is also closely connected to a phantastic site called:

www.deliria-italiano.de

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The image of Marisa Mell on the tram was not in Graz but was a photo composition made by me with a tram photographed in Amsterdam.

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The photo of Marisa Mell used on the tram to make the photo composition was sent to me by André Schneider from Berlin! Thanks buddy!

Una Sull'Altra (One on top of the Other) - Complete movie

This is the original Italian spoken version of the movie "One on top of the other" or "Una Sull'Altra". This movie is by many fans regarded, next to Danger: Diabolik!, as one of the best Marisa Mell movies. Unfortunately she is being dubbed by an Italian actress which is rather strange because Marisa Mell had a husky sexy voice and spoke very well the Italian language! Enjoy!

Thanks to André Schneider for pointing this one out on Google Videos

If the embedding is not working you can go directly to Google Videos:

http://video.google.de/videoplay?docid=-2197815493924812178#

"Le Cinema Bis" dans le "Cinema de Quartier"

Since relocating to Rome (Italy) during the mid sixties, Marisa Mell had a steady stream of work in mostly Italian movies. Unfortunately, the movies she appeared in were not A-list movies like her last one "Casanova 70" with Marcello Mastroianni but movies that the European audience called "Cinema Bis" movies. Movies that copied one way or the other successful A-list movies from Europe or America in the hope to jump in on the band wagon of success with little investment and huge earnings. "Una Sull'Altra" from 1969 directed by Lucio Fulci was one of those cinema bis movies and is regarded by many fans of Marisa Mell as one of her best. This movie has an intriguing plot about some kind of ménage à trois with Marisa Mell at the centre and her co-stars Jean Sorel and Elsa Martinelli as her partners in crime and bed. The movie was released in France on August 21st, 1970. The title was changed into "Perversion Story", to make it more sleazy and kinky. During the 60's untill the rise of the video cassette and multiplex cinema's, every neighbourhood in Paris had one or more local cinema's (Le Cinema de Quartier). One of the most prominent cinema de quartier "Le Moulin Rouge Cinema", situated next to the world famous night and revue club "Le Moulin Rouge", had this movie on its billboard in the summer of 1970.The Moulin Rouge was built in 1888. It burned down in 1915 and was not rebuilt until 1925. The new building included a winter garden, cabaret, and an Art Deco auditorium where Mistinguet, a famous French cabaret star, did her now famous shows. In 1929 the theatre was converted to a cinema, and until around 1940 also sometimes had live shows as well. Around 1950 a major refurbishing of the entire building created a cinema with 1500 seats and a huge screen, a new cabaret named Locomotive, and under the movie theatre, a new cabaret Moulin Rouge with a seperate entrance (the actual floor show place). In 1970 the Locomotive became a 600 stadium seating-style cinema called the Paramount Montmartre, which was triplexed in the 80's. The 1500 seat auditorium after a period of showing first run movies became difficult to run in the 80's, the beginning of the multiplex era in Paris. After a new policy showing 70mm prints on its huge screen, it closed around 1990. It is now a place to rent for fashion shows, movies, tv programs, and rehearsals.The three others screens also closed around 1990 and became a night club named once again Locomotive. The famous cabaret Moulin Rouge uses the most important space in the building.

Since the sixties the term "Cinema Bis" has become a household name. Many European film fanatics love these films from that era and remember with fondness how they as a youth often sneaked into the local movie theaters to see all those forbidden fruits. So it is wonderfull to notice that the history of the Cinema Bis is not forgotten by French author Laurent Aknin. He has written two phantastic books about cinema bis in French called "50 Ans de Cinema de Quartier"(350 pages) and "Les Classiques du Cinema Bis" (550 pages). The first retelling the 50 year history of those cinema's, the second giving an overview of the most famous, notorious and scandalous cinema bis movies. They are also great jumping on points as a cinema bis movie index. So both books should be part of every cinema bis lover's personal library! The books are not cheap to buy but have a great production value with a lot of vintage photo's, lobby cards, press books...etc. Highly recommended.

And now...a commercial break with J&B

“J&B Whisky” is a scotch blended whisky. The “J&B-Rare Blend”, the standard J&B whisky brand, is a blend of 42 Scottish malt and grain whiskies. Its charactaristic green bottle with yellow and red label are world wide known but if you ask people, even ardent J&B-drinkers, what the abbreviation “J&B” means not many can aswer you that the two letters refer to the names of its founders “Justerini & Brooks”. The company, originally “Johnson & Justerini” was founded in 1749 in London (UK), delivering fine wine and spirits to various up-scale aristocratic households, as well as supplying the then British King George III. In 1910, Johnson & Justerini was bought by Alfred Brooks and renamed “Justerini & Brooks”. In the early 1950s “J&B” merged with another company to form “United Wine Traders Ltd”,and by the end of the decade it had conquered America. From this sound base, and helped by another merger with “W. A. Gilbey Ltd, the London Gin makers", the brand went on to win over the world and became today’s second best selling blended whisky in the world after that other strange whisky fellow “Johnnie Walker”. “J&B”-whisky not only became a household name in hotels, bars and private homes but during the 60’s and 70’s it also became a fixed staple in the cultural world.

Some famous examples: In the original 1960’s “Ocean’s Eleven”, Sam Harmon played by Dean Martin, is seen with a bottle of J&B and glass looking at a painting of modern art in the home of character Spryros Acebos. The main character of Bret Easton Ellis's famous generation X novel “American Psycho”, Patrick Bateman, almost exclusively drinks J&B on the rocks. The main character MacReady in John Carpenter's 1982 horror picture “The Thing” exclusively drinks J&B on the rocks or even straight from the bottle. In the film “Goodfellas”, Ray Liotta's character receives a bottle of J&B smuggled into prison. In the cult film “Scarface”, Al Pacino's character, Tony Montana, drinks J&B with Elvira, played by Michelle Pfeiffer, during a poolside conversation. In the ultra violent HBO-prison drama “Oz”, various prison staff personnel can be seen drinking J&B in their office in several episodes. In the film “Once Upon a Time in America”, by maestro Sergio Leone, Robert De Niro as Noodles drinks J&B….

During the height of the Giallo genre, J&B was one of the most famous stars in those movies without getting any credit. In almost all the well-known gialli, the bottle and its golden liquid appears one way or the other. Very often, one of the main characters is an avid J&B-whisky drinker giving the beverage a prominent place in the film, the life of the characters and the evolving story. Even Marisa Mell could not escape this trend so when she appeared in a giallo “Una sull’altra”, directed by Lucio Fulci, she was also linked to the famous drink, if she liked it or not!

Seeing someone pour in a drink is nothing special but what makes this scene so special is the way Fulci directed Marisa Mell when fixing the drink. During a conversation with one of the other characters, Marisa Mell in a flower power bikini top, walks to the bar placed on a small table with a lamp. Instead of turning around with her face to the camera while pouring the drink she keeps standing with her back to the viewer and camera only opening her legs just a little bit.

The attentive viewer can now see the bottle J&D and its characteristic label through her legs giving the bottle a phallic like appearence as if entering the character's body. This scene filmed as it is by director Lucio Fulci is not a coincidence. Fulci had this scene clearly in mind while filming. Nothing more, nothing less. The scene gives a very clear hint about the profession of the character "Monica Weston". This scene also shows what a master craftsman Lucio Fulci was during the height of his carreer in telling a story solely with pictures and why “Una sull’altra” is regarded by many fans as one of his best movies.

During its giallo career, J&B appeared, as mentioned, in gialli like:

"Femina ridens" from 1969 with Dagmar Lassander as Maria, a giallo now famous for the dance scene with the see through bikini (See also entry "Pop Porno")

"Non si Sevizia un Paperino" from 1972 with Barbara Bouchet as Patricia

"Nude per l'Assassino" from 1975 with Edwige Fenech as Magda Cortis where the killer is pouring a glass of whisky

So in the end you can say that a giallo always had to have as a characteristic next to the black gloves and a bloody sharp razor blade a few scenes with J&B. Cheers!

How "Marisa Mell" became "Edwige Fenech"!

Back in the days before the Internet, fans of Euro Cult movies like Giallo, Eurospy and Spaghetti Westerns... often had a hard time to find more info about their beloved movies, directors and stars. They were often viewed as trash, B-Z movies or whatever kind of name they came up with to put on them! Thankfully some hard core fans in Europe found it their duty to write and publish about them by publishing fan magazines like the still excellent "Cine Zine Zone" (1978-2003) in France by the sadly missed Pierre Charles, who published 136 issues of his magazine (with one special issue entirely dedicated to Marisa Mell in his series "Les Déesses du Cinema du Quartier")
or the British publication "Giallo Pages" by John Martin, known as one of the überfans of the Italian movies and his love for everthing giallo.The first issue of Giallo Pages was published in 1993 with cover date March/April/May. It had among other items an interview with Dario Argento, Michele Soavi, David Warbeck... and because Marisa Mell had died a year before an obituary called "Goodbye Marisa Mell". The cover of this issue was quite shocking composing two movie stills "Antropophagus" with George Eastman and "L'orribile segreto del Dr. Hichcock" with Barbara Steele. In the lower right hand corner you got a little daring photo of a semi nude Marisa Mell from her best movie for many fans "Una Sull'Altra" by Lucio Fulci.

Publishing a magazine of any kind is a hard business because it asks a lot of time, money, creativity and endurance from the publisher or editor to keep on publishing. Not many people were able to copy the gigantic work of Pierre Charles with his magazine Cine Zine Zone. So John Martin ceased to publish his magazine after a 6 issue run in May of 1999 (Cover: a white dressed Diabolik). Giallo Pages had not a big print run but had excellent articles so many fans, especially in the USA, who had missed the first issues were looking for these hard to find issues to complete their collection in a pre-Ebay time when instant gratification did not exist like it does today. American publisher "Draculina Publishing" took the opportunity in 1996 and published an American version of the first issue of Giallo Pages. The publisher did not copy the original British issue to an American version but took some liberties for the American market!

They dropped the editoral page together with the Giallo Pages logo. Three illustrations from the content page were deleted. Pages 9, 11 and 15 have differences in illustrations than the original. Page 43 with the Marisa Mell obituary is missing completely. The "Trauma" back cover is replaced by a "Danger Diabolik" photo. On the cover Marisa Mell with her breasts in full is replaced by Edwige Fenech covering her breasts. The publisher forgot on the American version to remove the reference to the Marisa Mell orbituary called "Marisa Mell Remembered". Why did the publisher change Marisa Mell to Edwige Fenech? Probably because the photo of Marisa Mell is quite daring with her arms in the air and her breast in full view for an American market at that time. Or maybe he tought that Edwige Fenech was more known to the American Euro Cult fans than Marisa Mell who had not made many films since the 80's and had almost slipt into obscurity. Who knows! Fact is that only issue # 1 got reprinted.

Una sull'altra - Nackt über Leichen - German Lobby Cards

People who love European cult movies from the 60's and 70's, like I do, are always on the look out for the most complete version of their beloved movies!It is in the blood and can be an obsession! It has to be the total uncut version of the film with all the scenes complete down to the last second. That being said it often happens that it is not always possible to get the complete version of a movie, whatever you might wish. Bummer! A lot of it has to do with the way the movie was presented to the audience in the first place. Una sull'altra in Italy or Nackt über Leichen in Germany or Perversion Story in the USA had three production companies situated in Italy, Spain and France. So each producer tailored this movie in accordance to the legal rules of their country or to the wishes of their film board. The end result is that you get different versions of the same movie in different territories and later on different versions on different dvd labels, all pretending to have the definitive ultimate version of the movie. For example the American version was longer, but censored in several places, while some European versions had much expository footage removed while retaining sexual material cut from the U.S. release. A fully uncut version of "Una sull'altra" runs in the neighborhood of 103 minutes. Another good example is the above poster. The left hand poster is the original poster that came out during the original distribution of the movie. It is a gorgeous poster, drawn by a master painter who can draw beautiful life like faces! An art and job that is lost these days! The right hand poster is a present day manipulation of the same poster to make a cover for the DVD-R release of the movie. Problem is that they are calling their movie the uncut version ("Ungeschnittene Fassung") but untill you see the movie you are not sure what you bought! It is still a risk! And please, do not trust the running time on the back of the cover!