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Post by ripper on Jun 15, 2023 17:43:14 GMT
If you grew up in the UK in the 60s, 70s or 80s you would probably remember The Flashing Blade, a French series set during a Franco-Spanish war--17th century? I remember enacting each thrilling episode in our garden with my trusty toy sword. Not sure exactly when, but the usual English dubbing was replaced by a parody track and shown, I think, during Saturday mornings on the BBC programme On the Waterfront. I remember almost nothing of this series except for the theme tune. Of which I remember every word... Same here with regards to the title song. It is such a memorable and apt title song and music, nicely setting up the action to come. Often seemed to be shown during school Summer hols with other dubbed imports such as The Aeronauts, Desert Crusader, The White Horses and Belle and Sebastian. |
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Post by andydecker on Jun 15, 2023 19:55:26 GMT
,I believe The Flashing Blade was shown on French TV as 3 x 75 min episodes, but it was chopped up into 12 episodes when bought by the BBC. So was it shown in English with German subtitles in Germany, Andy? One or two other Eastern European nations also made westerns prior to the demise of the Soviet Union, including Czechoslovakia. They were known collectively as 'Red westerns'. I looked it up today. I must have seen it in 1968 as it was never re-run before 1984. It was cut down to 24 minute episodes. To my surprise there is a newish DVD edition and it is on Prime, but only as to buy. Unbelievable. But a lot of tv from the Golden Age are released for nostalgic audiences on DVD, more than one can buy actually. In my experience you often just watch a few and then it collects dust. I still haven't finished UFO or Yancy Derringer, another childhood favorite. The brave with the shotgun under his poncho was an inspiration :-)
The Flashing Blade was dubbed in Germany back then, both in West-Germany and the GDR. There it was called The audacious adventures of the chevalier whirlwind, in the democratic west it was called The adventures of the chevalier de Recci.
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Post by helrunar on Jun 15, 2023 22:04:58 GMT
I only discovered Yancy Derringer ten or so years ago when a friend mentioned the series while we were having lunch. Pahoo, the silent Native American played by X Brands, was a great character. Jock Mahoney had one of his best roles as Yancy.
Hel.
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Post by ripper on Jun 17, 2023 11:56:53 GMT
,I believe The Flashing Blade was shown on French TV as 3 x 75 min episodes, but it was chopped up into 12 episodes when bought by the BBC. So was it shown in English with German subtitles in Germany, Andy? One or two other Eastern European nations also made westerns prior to the demise of the Soviet Union, including Czechoslovakia. They were known collectively as 'Red westerns'. I looked it up today. I must have seen it in 1968 as it was never re-run before 1984. It was cut down to 24 minute episodes. To my surprise there is a newish DVD edition and it is on Prime, but only as to buy. Unbelievable. But a lot of tv from the Golden Age are released for nostalgic audiences on DVD, more than one can buy actually. In my experience you often just watch a few and then it collects dust. I still haven't finished UFO or Yancy Derringer, another childhood favorite. The brave with the shotgun under his poncho was an inspiration :-)
The Flashing Blade was dubbed in Germany back then, both in West-Germany and the GDR. There it was called The audacious adventures of the chevalier whirlwind, in the democratic west it was called The adventures of the chevalier de Recci.
It sounds like the series had the same edit in Germany as in the UK, but with different dubbing. I can't recall when I first saw it, but maybe circa 1970, and it was regularly shown throughout that decade. I had a toy plastic sword very similar to that which the Chevalier carried and also a big garden in which to recreate his adventures. |
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Post by ripper on Jun 17, 2023 12:18:58 GMT
I only discovered Yancy Derringer ten or so years ago when a friend mentioned the series while we were having lunch. Pahoo, the silent Native American played by X Brands, was a great character. Jock Mahoney had one of his best roles as Yancy. Hel. I presume Yancy Derringer was shown in the UK, but don't remember seeing it at all. According to Wikipedia it was shown in the USA in the late 50s, so might not have been broadcast in re-runs in the late 60s/70s when I would have been at an age to see it. Shows from that era such as Casey Jones, Cannonball, Champion the Wonder Horse and so forth were certainly wll into the 70s, so who knows? Another 30-min show from half a decade later which was shown in the 70s was Branded. Such a memorable title song over which the main character, played by Chuck Connors, has his sword broken and is kicked out of the US cavalry. |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 20, 2023 18:44:52 GMT
Been watching reruns of Britain & Irelands Next Top Model. The premise is you lock up 12 spoilt model wannabees in a house together. Every week one gets eliminated. It is pure cut throat, estrogen fueled drama. The catty bitchiness is truly a marvel to behold...great fun!  |
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Post by helrunar on Jun 26, 2023 1:33:13 GMT
Tonight I attended an early evening screening of the new restoration of The Wicker Man (1973)--I always have to include the date now because of that absurd remake. Billed as "the final director's cut," it seems that some material had been removed from the previous restoration I last viewed around 20 years ago. The film definitely looks better than I have ever seen it, and the sound was gorgeous (if a bit loud for my now aged ears); the songs in particular were a marvel.
Took in several details I'd failed to note in previous screenings, such as lore about the Toadstone and Hagstone on Miss Rose's blackboard, and the bizarre cakes on view in May Morrison's post office shop. I still don't know how they managed to avoid burning up Edward Woodward alive in the climactic sequence.
I kept thinking how all the principal actors are now on the other side, but Britt Ekland is still with us. Even to a male homosexual up in years, her bared breasts in the scene where she's winding up Woodward's epically clueless Sergeant Howie were, in every way, a force of nature.
Hel.
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on Jun 26, 2023 15:33:18 GMT
a male homosexual up in years I had no idea! Is this a new thing? Also, that is not Britt Ekland, I think, in the scene you mention, but a body double. |
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Post by andydecker on Jun 26, 2023 18:23:03 GMT
a male homosexual up in years I had no idea! Is this a new thing? Also, that is not Britt Ekland, I think, in the scene you mention, but a body double. Weren't only parts of her doubled? The backside? I have it on an audio commentary somewhere, but can't say for sure. It is still a great scene. I finally got the novel and am really curious. |
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on Jun 26, 2023 18:34:21 GMT
Weren't only parts of her doubled? The backside? I have it on an audio commentary somewhere, but can't say for sure. It is still a great scene. I finally got the novel and am really curious. I could well be mistaken. If at any time her face and her breasts are in view simultaneously, that would certainly settle the matter. I am not a fan of the film and not about to watch it again. |
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Post by helrunar on Jun 26, 2023 18:46:36 GMT
Britt's face is visible for a quite lengthy shot of her from the front where she's nude. The body double was only for a couple of shots where her behind was to the camera.
I read recently that Britt was pregnant when she shot the film. What I'd read in various online articles years ago was that the director, or whomever, wanted somebody with a more photogenic posterior for the "back behind the Vault" shots.
Hel.
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on Jun 26, 2023 19:16:57 GMT
Britt's face is visible for a quite lengthy shot of her from the front where she's nude. The body double was only for a couple of shots where her behind was to the camera. I read recently that Britt was pregnant when she shot the film. What I'd read in various online articles years ago was that the director, or whomever, wanted somebody with a more photogenic posterior for the "back behind the Vault" shots. Hel. My most humble apologies. I need to learn to keep my mouth shut on scientific matters. |
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Post by Knygathin on Jun 29, 2023 16:07:25 GMT
Anyone seen and enjoyed Tobe Hooper's Spontaneous Combustion? Seems somewhat similar to Cronenberg's Scanners.
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on Jun 29, 2023 16:24:35 GMT
Anyone seen and enjoyed Tobe Hooper's Spontaneous Combustion? Seems somewhat similar to Cronenberg's Scanners. I saw it many years ago and remember very little. It does, as you point out, build upon Cronenberg's film, in the sense that whereas in SCANNERS only one head explodes, in this one there are many exploding heads. |
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Post by Knygathin on Jun 29, 2023 23:17:06 GMT
To check out the new generation of filmmakers, I watched The Lighthouse (2019) and The Witch (2015). The Lighthouse was absurd, ... I liked a couple of scenes: the sfx makeup of the mermaid's exposed genitals, and when the young man looks into the light at the top of the lighthouse. The Witch was clearly superior, and although it lacks the cinematic artistry and color of the older generation of directors like John Carpenter of Tobe Hooper, it has an interesting story, immersive, and scary. It looks like bleak documentary film, with all effort on realism. The acting was not very good either, with bleary inarticulate and rushed dialog. As the film progressed, it became better and better. It has the best witch I have ever seen on film. Devastating finale. All in all, I must say, it was a fantastic movie experience.
Tomorrow I'll probably watch Spontaneous Combustion.
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