Coming soon: The Master Of Gore Collection

If you're on the look out for an introduction to the work of low-budget exploitation director Herschell Gordon Lewis, The Master Of Gore Collection could be for you.

It's a collection of four infamous vintage titles - 2000 Maniacs, Wizard of Gore, Gruesome Twosome and Colour Me Blood Red - none of which are for the easily squeamish. If you want to get an idea of the kind of thing in the box, check out the trailer for The Gruesome Twosome below.

And if you like, the box is released on 1st September 2008 - Amazon is taking pre-orders right now for £14.99.

Find out more about the DVD at Amazon.co.uk

Cult Clip: Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush (1967)

Well, with Up The Junction heading for DVD in the coming weeks, we're now just waiting for a reissue for  Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush.

Strangely, this tale of one man's attempt to be a part of the permissive society isn't available (officially) on DVD anywhere. Shame really, as it's something of a lost 60s gem with a cracking soundtrack and a great cast, including Barry Evans, Judy Geeson, Adrienne Posta and Diane Keen.

YouTube does offer a snippet though...which you can see here...

The System (1964) gets a DVD release

We mentioned Michael Winner yesterday with a big screen showing of I'll Never Forget What's 'Is Name - but that wasn't his only 60s flick worth seeking out, there's also The System.

Dating back to 1964 and again starring Oliver Reed, The System (aka The Girl Getters) is one of those cult British movies few people have seen, with Reed starring as Tinker, the leader of a gang of jacket and tie-wearing youths who are on holiday at a seaside resort- picking fights, terrorising tourists and chasing women.

But Tinker is thrown when one of his potential 'conquests' captures his heart - leaving him as the one being used. It's released by the ever-more-excellent Odeon Entertainment on 21st July, with Amazon selling it for the criminally cheap price of £5.98.

Find out more about the DVD at Amazon.co.uk

I'll Never Forget What's 'is Name at the BFI - with Michael Winner

Forget that view you have of Michael Winner and think of him as a 1960s director of some note - producing gems like I'll Never Forget What's 'is Name, a tale of one man's attempt to escape from the world of advertising and its trappings.

The movie (which stars Oliver Reed, Carol White and Orson Welles) gets a rare screening at the BFI in September, with Michael Winner on hand to do a Q&A at the end of the flick. That's about all the detail we have right now, except that it;s a Flipside production taking place on Wednesday 17th September.

For fans of 60s cinema, it's one for the diary. More detail to follow when we have it.

Cool It Carol! gets a UK DVD launch

We got a lot of emails about Cool It Carol! after we reviewed the US DVD some months back - most of them asking why the movie wasn't available in the UK. Well, in August, it finally gets a launch.

This British exploitation flick from the hand of Pete Walker dates back to 1970s and stars Robin Askwith and Janet Lynn as Joe and Carol, a young couple looking to make it big in Swinging London, eventually falling into prostitution and stag films to make money before that big break arrives.

It's no classic, but it is well worth seeking out for fans of the era. We'll hopefully have a review online of the UK DVD, but in the meantime, check out our US DVD review and make a note of the 18th August, which is when the film will be available to buy.

Find out more about the DVD at Amazon.co.uk

Coming soon: Grindhouse Trailer Classics 2

Regular readers will know we loved the original Grindhouse Trailer Classics release, so we're more than a little excited to hear a second volume - Grindhouse Trailer Classics 2 - from Nucleus Films.

And as you might expect, this is more of the same, a disc packed with theatrical promos for some of the most weird and wonderful grindhouse flicks you'll ever encounter, chosen by cult movie expert Marc Morris and including the likes of The Black Gestapo, The Depraved, Bloody Pit Of Horror, The Pink Angels and Foxy Brown to name just five of the 55 movies featured.

Hopefully we'll have a review online well before the release date - which is 8th September 2008.

More from the Nucleus Films website

Cult Clip: Purab Aur Pachhim (1970)

Bollywood meets Swinging London? That will be Purab Aur Pachhim.

I've not seen the movie, but Bossbeat (check out his Bollywood clips for more of the same) put us onto it. The title apparently translates to 'East and West', with the plot revolving around 'a good Indian boy going to swinging London in the 60s'.

Want a clip? Check it out below. No sign of it being available in the UK right now, but I'd guess some specialist sellers will have a copy.

DVD Review: Robbery (1967)

Being a fan of the British crime flick, I'm pleased to see Robbery finally get a DVD release - a semi-forgotten movie based (very loosely) on the 1963 Great Train Robbery.

A 1967 film, with direction from Peter Yates (who also did Bullitt), the movie is a mix of old and new school, made just before British cinema got truly gritty. Essentially, it's a tale of two men - Paul Clifton (Stanley Baker) on the crime side and Inspector George Langdon (James Booth) as the Sweeney's man on his trail - ironic really, as Booth is probably best known as villain Vic Labbett from the Sweeney TV series.

It all gets off at a cracking pace as Clifton's gang pull off a robbery to raise finds for the 'big job', before being pursued throughout London in one of the best big screen car chases you'll see for a long time. Despite one man getting caught, the job is successful - freeing up funds to pull together the right team for the big train robbery, which also means springing a key part of that gang (Robinson, played by Frank Finlay) from jail.

Saul Bass limited edition exhibition poster

Back in 2004, London's Design Museum held an exhibition of the work of Saul Bass, producing a superbly stylish poster to go along with it. If you missed it, here's some good news - a limited edition re-print is now available.

Saul Bass was the master of film title design thanks to his collaborations with Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick and Martin Scorsese. This poster was inspired by Bass’ titles for Otto Preminger’s Anatomy of a Murder and is sized at 1000 x 700mm and printed on parilux matt white 150 gsm paper.

Just £15 buys you one - but don't hang about, once the new stock has sold through, no more will be printed.

Find out more at the Design Museum Store website

Cult Clip: Privilege (1967)

One of those 60s movies that everyone mentions but few have actually seen is Privilege. But you'll soon have a chance to own in it.

Starring Paul Jones and Jean Shrimpton, this satirical film has Jones as a pop singer, coerced by 'the establishment' to use his popularity to manipulate his fans into supporting the Government's policies. Controversial on its release, there's been no sign of a DVD issue...until now. You see, New Yorker Video in the US is releasing the film on 29th July. No news of a release elsewhere, but if we hear anything, we'll let you know. In the meantime, enjoy the trailer below...

Cult Clip: Take Three Girls (1969)

Seeing as Pentangle has reformed for some shows, it seems a good time to stick up this Pentangle-related TV clip - for Take Three Girls.

This BBC TV series from the late 60s (into the early 70s) featured the lives of three girls living together in a flat in Swinging London. It was one of the first BBC dramas to be filmed in colour and like much of the BBC's more interesting output, isn't available (officially) on DVD. But we live in hope.

Enjoy the show's introduction...

DVD Review: Bossa Brazil (2008)

"Viva Bossa-sa-sa! Viva Bossa-sa-sa-sa!" When Caetano Veloso yells that, you know he's on to sumthin' cool. Even at it's most third-rate and cruddy, Bossa Nova is still a million times cooler than just about anything else. As a kid, one of my most cherished LPs was this crappy MFP release called 'The Beatles, Bacharach and Bach Go Bossa'. It was barrel scraping Bossa with sleeve notes that said "if your party is sagging in the middle, then play this album!" It was awful. It was exploitative. I loved it.

Of course, Bossa Nova isn't merely the soundtrack to lava lamps and avocado bathroom suites and women in high waisted loons. Bossa Nova is the exact big bang point in Brazilian music when they discovered what happened when you mix samba and jazz. In essence, take two really cool styles of music, throw them in a melting pot and whatever comes out is bound to be great... and it was. It was Brazil's identity, rising with their glories on the football pitch and soundtracked Cinema Novo and... hell... it shook everyone up without ever going beyond a hypnotic whisper. So does Bossa Brazil: Stories of Love - The Birth of Bossa Nova do Brazil justice?

Classic James Bond movies head to Blu-Ray

Just bought the latest restored versions of the James Bond movies on DVD? Well, I'm afraid we have some bad news - the James Bond back catalogue is to be reissued in high definition on Blu-Ray disc.

Good news if you didn't buy the most recent reissues though - and if you have a Blu-Ray player. According to MGM/Twentieth Century Fox, the new versions have been 'recently restored and re-mastered for the highest quality picture and sound quality via the state-of-the-art Lowry process digital frame-by-frame restoration. And they'll be packed with special features too.

The date for your diary is October 31st (same day as the new Quantum of Solace hits the big screen), with the first titles reissued being Dr No, Die Another Day, Live And Let Die, For Your Eyes Only, From Russia With Love and Thunderball.

James Bond (unofficial) website

BBC4's British B Movies weekend

We love a British cult classic, so we'll be in front of the box all weekend to catch BBC4's British B Movies weekend.

In truth, it's not as good as it could have been, although the 90-minute documentary - British B Movies: Truly, Madly, Cheaply - should be worth the effort, with plenty of interviews and clips packed in.

As for the films, well satanic Brit biker movie Psychomania gets its annual BBC airing, alongside The Last Journey (1936), Lazybones (1935) and perhaps more interestingly, Marilyn (1953), The Black Rider (1954) and Cover Girl Killer (1959). Set the DVD recorder.

Find out more at the BBC website

BFI's Midsummer Psych-Out

The Flipside crew at London's BFI have another fine event on the agenda - the Midsummer Psych-Out.

As the name suggests, this is a night of mind-blowing visuals and late 60s tunes, which takes places on Saturday 21st June from 6:20pm. The film program is outlined over the page (taking place in two parts), with the visuals followed by a 'freak out' at no extra charge to the swirling psychedelic sounds of DJs Mariko and Anti-Gravity Man (The Girls in the Garage) in Benugo bar. Tickets are £8.60 each show or a joint ticket is available for £12.50 (concessions £9.25).

Up The Junction finally gets a DVD release

Well, we've been moaning about a lack of DVD release for Up The Junction for as long as we can remember, so it's good to know someone was listening with an August release date from Paramount now confirmed.

It's a genuine 60s gem, with Suzy Kendall as Polly, a bored rich girl looking to experience 'real' life in the working class area of Battersea. When she gets there, she finds factory work, genuine people, love (with Peter - Dennis Waterman) and some real hardship and suffering.

I can't recommend the movie enough, so make sure you get a copy ordered before the 18th August release date. I can't imagine too many extras on the disc with a selling price of £9.99 (probably less with the big sellers), although the trailer might sneak on somewhere.

In the meantime, check out the clips on YouTube. You can view the opening titles here and the pub scene here.

Find out more about the DVD at Amazon.co.uk

Original Get Smart TV series gets UK DVD release

Long before Austin Powers there was Get Smart - and the original TV series is finally getting a DVD release in the UK. Probably to capitalise on the publicity from the movie remake.

Series one gets the DVD treatment, with Maxwell Smart aka Agent 86 (Don Adams) back to spoof 60s spy movies (and TV shows) and battle an assortment of super villains, including KAOS, The Claw, Siegfried, Harry Hoo, Mr Big and Hymie The Killer Robot, all courtesy of the pen of Mel Brooks.

It's available from 7th July 2008, with all 30 episodes digitally restored and re-mastered, with extras including various featurettes, commentaries and vintage promotional clips. Expect to pay around £34.99.

Find out more about the DVD at Amazon.co.uk

Midnight Movies at Curzon Cinemas

If you are in London and on the look out for a late night cult film in themed surroundings, free beer and a party thrown in, you should check out Midnight Movies, which is taking place at Curzon Cinemas.

The next event is on Friday 30th May, a 1960s-themed event with Skidoo on the big screen - a satirical comedy involving gangers, hippies, prison riots, LSD, a soundtrack by Harry Nilsson and starring Groucho Marx in his final role. Locked away by director Otto Preminger himself and never released on video and DVD, this is a rare opportunity to catch this groovy flick from 1968.

The event starts at 9:30pm (with DJs), with the film showing at 11:30pm. Entry is £10 (advance) or £12 on the door, with each ticket including a free beer. Tickets are available from the box office at Curzon Soho, 99 Shaftesbury Avenue, W1D 5DY or from the website below.

Curzon Cinemas website

Barbican's Best of Bond Weekend

London's Barbican centre is hosting a Best of Bond weekend over the weekend of 7th and 8th June, with the films shown based on the votes of the cinema's audiences over the past couple of months.

The winners have just been announced, with the four films being shown:

Saturday 7th June
6.00pm - From Russia With Love (1963)
8.45pm - Goldfinger (1964)

Sunday 8th June 
6.00pm - Casino Royale (2006 - not the 'spoof' version from 1967)
8.45pm - Dr No (1962)

You could sit through the whole weekend if you wanted, but it doesn't look like you get a discounted ticket for doing so - admission is £8.50 per film, £6 for the unwaged.

Find out more at the Barbican website

Coming to DVD: Jason King - The Complete Series Special Edition

Britain's dandiest crime investigator heads to DVD next month with the launch of Jason King - The Complete Series Special Edition.

As the name suggests, this is everything - seven discs with all 26 episodes complete and uncut, with Peter Wyngarde in the title role, mixing life as a crime fighter, author, playboy and late 60s clothes horse. Extras include a documentary, stills gallery, music suite and the TV play The Cross Fire starring Peter Wyngarde.

It's out on 30th June 2008, selling for £59.99. But watch out for a competition on this very site in the very near future.

Find out more about the DVD at Amazon.co.uk

Cult Clip: Alphaville trailer (1965)

We mentioned this is getting a rare outing in Manchester this month, so a good time to feature the original (and perhaps over-dramatic) trailer for Jean-Luc Godard's sci-fi noir classic Alphaville.

And here it is...

Reigning Cats & Dogs - Robert Downey Sr's Pound plus Robert Crumb's Fritz The Cat and Bob Stanley DJ set at the Barbican

Next Friday looks like a decent night at London's Barbican, with the Fortune Teller Press presents Reigning Cats & Dogs. That means an outing for Robert Downey Sr’s Pound (unseen for 30 years), supported Fritz the Cat and a DJ set from Saint Etienne's Bob Stanley.

Pound is Robert Downey Sr’s rarely-seen follow-up to Putney Swope - an existential look into the world of dogs locked up in a NY pound - except all the dogs are played by humans. Studio execs hated it so , much that all copies were destroyed. Well, not quite all - here's a surviving one. Backing it up is the cult movie based on Robert Crumb’s Fritz The Cat, with morality taking a backseat to drugs, sex and an incredibly soulful soundtrack.

Tickets are £11, with the 9th May event starting at 7pm.

Find out more at the Barbican website

Jean-Luc Godard's Alphaville gets rare big screen outing in Manchester

The Breakfast Club at Manchester's Cornerhouse cinema is still going strong - offering a cooked breakfast (meat or veggie), a drink and a cult film for Sunday lunchtimes. And the next film is an absolute corker - Jean-Luc Godard's Alphaville.

This ultra-stylish sci-fi noir finds inter-galactic special agent Lemmy Caution (Eddie Constantine) in Alphaville, the capital city of a distant planet, on the hunt for the mysterious Professor von Braun.

But when he arrives, he finds a planet controlled by Alpha 60, a vast computer which has outlawed 'illogical' trivia such as love and poetry and turned the residents into emotional zombies. Assisted by the professor's daughter Natasha (Anna Karina), Caution's investigations set him on a collision course with the all-powerful machine.

It's showing in Sunday 11th May, with a price of £9.20, including your fry-up.

Find out more at the Cornerhouse website

Reviewed: The Flipside presents The Small World of Sammy Lee at the NFT

Those fellahs at The Flipside have done it again; they’ve tracked down a forgotten gem of British Cinema and who knows where The Small World of Sammy Lee has been hiding since it was made in 1962?

If you’re anything like me, the name Anthony Newley tends to conjure up a picture of a light entertainer who seemed to belong to the Victorian Music Hall tradition, more than the Swingin’ Age he became famous in. This film pays testament to his talent as an actor, and a damn good one at that.

Fashion In Film Festival returns for a second year

Returning for a second year is the Fashion In Film Festival, mixing talks, exhibitions, newly-commissioned film works, but best of all, some rarely-seen cinema classics that show how fashion of the day was just as important as a good plot and scenery.

Some superb films on show this year too, with highlights (for me) including the visually stunning (see image above) 10th Victim (La Decima Vittima) from 1965 and Get Carter (1970) at the ICA, Mario Bava's Blood and Black Lace (1964) at the Horse Hospital, as well as a double bill of delinquency curated by fashion designer and former mod Roger K. Burton (The Violent Years from 1956 and The Boys from '62), Dario Argento's The Bird With Crystal Plumage (1970) at the BFI plus Plein Soleil (1960) and Fata Morgana (1965) Ciné lumiére.

Much more besides, including some rare silent flicks and classic US film noir. Check out the full programme at the website - the event runs from 10th - 31st May 2008.

Fashion In Film Festival website

The Wrong Box (1966)

A 60s movie with a cast including Michael Caine, Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, Nanette Newman, John Mills, Ralph Richardson, Peter Sellers and Tony Hancock? Sounds too good to be true? Well it is true - and strangely, The Wrong Box remains something of an unknown quantity.

Despite the era, this isn't a swinging sixties movie - it's actually a Victorian farce. But as the style of the 60s owed much to a Victorian revival, that doesn't take too much effort. The plot however is something that might require a few spare brain cells.

The Small World Of Sammy Lee and 60s Soho at London's BFI

Another great night planned by The Flipside at London's BFI on Thursday 24th April 2008, celebrating the seedy world of 60s Soho.

That means a screening of The Small World Of Sammy Lee (1962), with Strip club compere and small time wideboy Sammy (played by cockney crooner Anthony Newley) losing his shirt at an all-night card game, with the heavies are looking to collect. That means a race against the clock around the streets of Soho as Sammy tries to raise the readies, and escape with the girl who loves him, before his luck runs out.

Also showing is Strip (1966), a short movie looking at vintage burlesque dancers at the notorious Phoenix Club, Old Compton Street, with the girls backstage talking about life whilst having a cup of tea and warming-up the baked beans. And to top things off, Big Shots features rare footage of wartime Soho shot by Sammy Lee director, Ken Hughes.

Introduced by Flipside's Vic Pratt and Will Fowler, with 'Sammy Lee' actress Julia Foster doing a Q&A after the screening. Tickets cost £8.60 (£6.25 concessions).

Find out more at the BFI website

Cult Clip: The Frightened Woman (1969)

Also reviewed recently on Cinedelica is The Frightened Woman - and that too has a trailer on YouTube. So if our review doesn't quite convince you to buy it...maybe this will...

Note that it's not 100 per cent safe for work (but not strong enough for an 18 rating on YouTube).

Cult Clip: Danger Diabolik (1968)

While we're on a brightly-coloured 60s movies tip, how about checking out the trailer for Mario Bava's comic book crime caper - Danger Diabolik.

Nothing more to say except...you really should see it.

DVD Review: The Frightened Woman (1969)

Visually stunning, achingly stylish, slightly disturbing and at times even confusing. One thing is for sure though - you'll not forget The Frightened Woman (aka Femina Ridens) in a hurry.

Classed unfairly as sexploitation upon its release, this pop art gem got a rough ride from the censors - and hasn't been seen in its entirety since its 1969 release. But Shameless, working with director Pierro Zchivazappa, have managed to piece together and restore the surviving versions, producing what the director has called 'THE version of my film to watch'.

For Your Eyes Only: Ian Fleming and James Bond at the Imperial War Museum

London's Imperial War Museum is the location for a major Ian Fleming and James Bond exhibition - For Your Eyes Only.

A look at the man and the character, it features a large amount of material on show for the first time, including  a selection of annotated Bond manuscripts and Fleming’s Colt Python .375 Magnum revolver, along with material from the films including the ‘blood–splattered’ shirt worn by Daniel Craig in Casino Royale, Rosa Klebb’s flick–knife shoes in From Russia With Love and Halle Berry’s bikini from Die Another Day.

There's also a number of events and family activities relating to Bond, plus free screening of some early Bond classics - Dr No, From Russia With Love and Goldfinger. The exhibition opens on 17th April 2008, running until 1st March 2009. See the website for full listings.

Find out more at the Imperial War Museum website

Via Retro To Go

BFI's 60s French cinema season

This month, the BFI Southbank will be hosting a season of films relating to the spirit of revolution in the era called “Pop Goes the Revolution: French Cinema and May '68”.

Curated by Bob Stanley, the season shows how the enfranchisement of youth in the mid-60s was turning the world on its head. As you might expect, there are films here by Jean Luc Godard (“Masculin Féminin”, “Alphaville” and “Weekend”), Francois Truffaut (The Bride Wore Black”) and a double-bill starring Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin.

Perhaps the highlight of the season is the chance to see William Klein’s op-art satire on the fashion world “Who are You, Polly Magoo?” which is showing on 26th and 29th April.

For full listings, visit the BFI website.

Via Retro To Go

Repulsion (1965)

Bleak, dark, haunting - not words you would obviously associate with Catherine Deneuve and 60s London, but words you would associate with Repulsion.

Roman Polanski's second film (but his first English language) is a tale of mental breakdown - as good as anything on the subject. Deneuve is Carol Ledoux - on the face of it an attractive but shy beautician, living in London with her sister. But underneath a repressed and lonely Belgian girl with a fear of men - getting lonelier by the day as her sister Helen (Yvonne Furneaux) spends most of her evenings with her married boyfriend Michael (Ian Hendry).

Cult Clip: To Sir With Love trailer (1967)

Time for a 60s classic I think. This is the cinema trailer for To Sir With Love - I presume for the US market judging by the almost laughable (but overly serious) voiceover.

But that just adds to the entertainment value to be honest...

Coming soon: Department S Complete Series - Special Edition

The show that brought us swinging hipster Jason King returns to DVD in April - Department S Complete Series - Special Edition.

This eight-disc set contains all 28 episodes of the series and for the first time, complete and uncut. For the uninitiated, Peter Wyngarde stars as flamboyant crime writer Jason King, who also works freelance for Department S, an elite branch of Interpol. Aided by Stewart Sullivan (Joel Fabiani) and Rosemary Nichols (Annabelle Hurst), he attempts to unravel bizarre and inexplicable mysteries which have left other police baffled - all under the supervision of Sir Curtis Seretse (Dennis Alaba Peters), Head of Department S.               

Special features include an exclusive new documentary on the making of Department S, a large image gallery (more than 1300 images) and extensive PDF materials, including original press pack information, UK and US brochures, quick facts, press information and more. Released on 21st April, it should retail for around £59.99.

Find out more about the DVD at Amazon.co.uk

Cult Clip: Les Bicyclettes De Belsize (1969)

Part clip, part plug. The clip bit first - here's the introduction to the cult 60s love story Les Bicyclettes De Belsize from 1969, reviewed on this very site a few weeks back.

And now the plug - in case you missed it, we're giving away copies of the London Nobody Knows (1967) / Les Bicyclettes de Belsize (1969) right now. Just enter the competition following this link.

Cult Clip: The Touchables (1968)

We've covered The Touchables in the past, so there's no need to ramble on about this bizarre swinging sixties relic again. But as the trailer has now appeared on YouTube, it's only right that we feature it. Enjoy the trailer below and if you know who has the rights to it, give them a nudge about a reissue...

Network to release lost 60s TV gem The Owl Service

Just when you think that the 60s TV archives have been completely plundered, Network finds another lost gem - The Owl Service - which is getting a release on 28th April 2008.

The Owl Service was the first programme made in colour by Granada and it's still intact - all eight episodes will be available complete and uncut in this two-disc set. Shot in the Welsh valleys in the summer of 1969, The Owl Service is a teen drama,  mixing history, myth, mystery and adventure, as well as the supernatural and class division. To quote the press release:

'Alison (Gillian Williams) and her brother Roger (Francis Williams) spend the family summer holiday in a remote cottage in the Welsh countryside. After hearing a scratching noise in the attic, Alison discovers some old dinner plates which have a strange floral pattern on them. When she traces the design onto paper, the flowers turn into owls. What is the connection between the plates, the gardener, the angry housekeeper and the legend of a village magician? Discover the weird power of the valley as the legend begins to unfold...'

Extras include an i