Taschen's Cinema Now - book and DVD set

Lacking a good knowledge of contemporary film? Cinema Now from Taschen could fill the gaps.

Cinema Now examines the work and key themes of 60 filmmakers working around the world today, from Hollywood to the new wave of Asian directors and new movie men (and women) in Europe and Latin America, including the likes of Pedro Almodóvar, Wong Kar-Wai, Alejandro González Iñárritu and Carlos Reygadas, Guy Maddin, Matthew Barney, and Tsai Ming-Liang.

As well as facts and photos, the book also features an exclusive DVD containing exclusive short films, extracts, trailers, and much more, so you can see for yourself the work in question. Combined, the book and DVD sell for £24.99 (and probably less if you shop around.

Find out more at the Taschen website

DVD review: Basket Case (1982)

It’s obviously a cheaper budget than Henenlotter's later pic, ‘Brain Damage’, with lots of natural shadowy lighting we’d call ‘dogma’ if it wasn’t for the frequent splash of red syrup. The acting, on the whole, is one step better than your average nativity play. And the monster from the basket has a seam along its bobbly blown-vinyl body. But none of this stops Basket Case from being a great little 80s horror. Yes, there’s a lack of budget. But that also means there’s a lack of the cynical concepts and set pieces we get in today’s scare-me-pooless-gore-engines.

There’s so many similarities between ‘Basket Case’ and ‘Brain Damage’, it would be easy to say: if you liked Henenlotter’s later work, you’ll probably like this one. But that seems unfair to the director, despite his admittance that this movie was something of a pet project, never intended for the success it eventually received (after about four years on the NY underground ‘midnight picture’ circuit). Maybe it wasn’t made to impress millions. But you can tell that this is a writer/director who cares about his story and is after something that is truly different. Why else have a character read Caliban’s speech from The Tempest as a bedtime story to young outsiders? Why else pave the way for a shocking end scene with an offbeat panty-snatching segment?

Joy Division documentary premieres at the Salford Film Festival

Ok, it's not exactly Cannes, but Salford does have a Film Festival, with a mix of classics, new movies and documentaries on offer this year.

The festival is already underway, but some real gems are still to come this week, including a comedy double bill of A Night At The Opera/The Lavender Hill Mob do, the rarely-seen and very strange 1966 mini-movie White Bus by Shelagh Delaney (previously featured here on Cinedelica) and real coup for the festival - Joy Division: The Documentary - a first-showing of this feature, introduced by Salford lad (and Joy Division member of course) Peter Hook.

Check out the site for the timetable, which runs until Wednesday 28th November.

Find out more at the Salford Film Festival website

Win Amazing Journey: The Story of The Who on DVD

Just out in time for Christmas is a two-disc DVD set of The Who's finest moments coupled with rare footage of the band and band members - Amazing Journey: The Story Of The Who and Six Quick Ones. And we have three DVD sets to give away.

Directed by Paul Crowder, Amazing Journey tells the story of the band through the music, footage, new interviews with the band, celebrity fans and musicians, plus recently-discovered concert footage, kicking off with I Can't Explain and ending with the band's most recent tour and recordings. There's also an additional Six Quick Ones disc, which focuses on each individual band member, the mod scene, the pop art movement and more rare footage - including film of the band as the High Numbers at the Railway Hotel - the earliest footage of the band known to be in existence.

If you want to be in with a chance of winning a set, just enter your details at our sister site Modculture, following the link below. The winners will be drawn just before Christmas.

Enter the Who competition at the Modculture website

Reviewed: Smashing Time at the NFT

Those nice fellas at The Flipside managed to secure not only the use of a print of Smashing Time, but also a personal appearance by the delightful Rita Tushingham! In case you haven’t run across this little belter of a film before, I’ll summarise:

Two girls from the North of England, Yvonne & Brenda, come down to London in search of ‘The Scene’, which they’ve heard is located somewhere around ‘Carnaby Street’ and we follow their hapless journey from the drive of St Pancras Station, forty years before the glittering refit that transformed it into a sight worth seeing, but here, begrimed with eighty years of soot, and in disrepair, to Camden Town, the result of asking a drunken gentleman of the road the way to that more fashionable street in W1, all the way to that dreamy thoroughfare of fashion, to the more upmarket of West London’s boutiques, fashion shoots and Yvonne’s thwarted pop career, then the long walk back to St Pancras and home.

Cult Clip: The London Nobody Knows (1967)

I've just had word that a real lost gem is coming to DVD - The London Nobody Knows.

Dating from 1967, this documentary is headed up by James Mason, who takes a look at the 'underside' of the city, including many places long since demolished. It's due for release on 3rd March as part of a package that also includes Les Bicyclettes De Belsize, a 1968 short about a young man who falls in love with a model, filmed around the Hampstead area of London.

More details on the package when we have it. In the meantime, enjoy a clip of The London Nobody Knows below:

DVD Review: Election 2 (2006)

Johnnie To’s sequel to Election (2005) swaps high-octane action for Machiavellian power plays and character exploration, though in the final analysis it’s every bit as violent as its predecessor. Like much recent output from the HK crime school, the film treads thematic water. Excellent performances and To’s ever-impeccable production values make it watchable, but workmanlike dialogue and too many blatant rips from the American gangster canon prevent it from being anything more.

Two years after Lok (Simon Yam Tat-Wah) wins the captaincy of the fearsome Wo Sing triad, the time arrives for him to cede power to a new ‘Godfather’. But the incumbent is reluctant to leave, even though the triad’s legislature doesn’t allow consecutive terms.

Other candidates are mooted. The favourite, Jimmy (Louis Koo Tin-Lok), is initially as loath to step up as Lok is to leave. He runs a highly successful pirate VCD empire, and only joined the triad for its business connections. He has no interest in its internal politics or its ideological pretentions to alternative government.

It becomes increasingly obvious however that his business interests hinge upon his becoming Godfather. More than that: Lok’s appetite for an extended term becomes homicidally ravenous, and as the other candidates are serially dispatched, Jimmy realises that he must get elected to stay alive.

DVD Review: Re-cycle (2006)

While Hollywood's horror hacks obsessively remake the gore movies of the 1970s, Hong Kong cine-siblings Danny and Oxide Pang have been quietly turning the genre inside out.  Re-cycle reunites the Pangs with leading lady Angelica Lee (star of their breakthrough hit: The Eye (2002)). 

Lee plays Ting-yin, a successful novelist whose public persona masks a troubled past. Following an awkward press conference, and an uncomfortable reunion with her ex-boyfriend, Ting-yin begins work on her new horror novel, and is suddenly plagued by terrifying supernatural visions.  The Pangs tease us with glimpses of a long-haired ghost girl - suggesting this is going to be yet another Ring knock-off. 

But the film soars onto another level, as the ghost leads Ting-yin into a bizarre parallel world, beyond our reality.  She journeys across a breathtaking CG wonderland, confronting lost souls, giant killer toys, a cave haunted by aborted foetuses, and hordes of screaming, snake-necked zombies.  It's a rare horror movie that makes successful use of computer graphics, conjuring an eerie, oppressive atmosphere.  The decayed buildings Ting-yin wanders past are recreations of once-famous Hong Kong landmarks, demolished to make way for the economic miracle.  As Ting-yin befriends a pluck little ghost girl, whose familiarity holds the key to unlocking her dark secret - the Pangs draw ingenious parallels between their heroine's suppressed anxieties and Hong Kong's forgotten past. Their ambitious subtext is given weight thanks to yet another brittle, sensitive performance from the gifted Angelica Lee, and her remarkable rapport with child actress Qiqi Zeng. 

Led Zeppelin's The Song Remains The Same heads to DVD

The brief reformation of Led Zeppelin was initially pitched as a one-night tribute to Ahmet Ertegun. But over time, it's shifted rather uncomfortably into a huge marketing exercise (and pre-Christmas push) for Led Zep's back catalogue.

The latest release is the band's 1976 movie The Song Remains The Same, which is reissued on Monday 19th November on DVD, HD DVD and Blu-ray. The movie features classic tracks from a three-night stint at Madison Square Garden in July 1973, now available with improved sound and picture, along with six songs not on the original release - Black Dog, Over The Hills And Far Away, Misty Mountain Hop, Since I’ve Been Loving You, The Ocean and Heartbreaker.

There's also more than 40 minutes of added bonus material, including interviews, TV footage and rare performances. And if that's not enough, a collector's set throws in a collectible vintage t-shirt with original album artwork design, soundtrack CD, lobby cards, reproductions of original premiere invites, tour schedule, and more.

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

Smashing Time on the big screen

We mentioned this a while back, but just to remind you, Smashing Time is showing at the NFT in London this Tuesday - and we've just had it confirmed that Rita Tushingham will be introducing the movie.

It is showing as part of a mini tribute to the recently-departed George Melly, with Smashing Time (scripted by Melly) showing on the first night - the classic swinging London movie, with Rita Tushingham and Lynn Redgrave heading down to Carnaby Street from 'up north' for money and modelling careers. Fame and fortune finally arrives unexpectedly - but is it really what they want?

And if you want more Melly, a second screening features Melly on the Telly, the pick of the man on the small screen, including Milligan 'N' Melly (1973), Recollections (1985) and It's Your Funeral ( 2001)

Smashing Time shows on Tuesday 20th November at 6:15pm and Melly on the Telly at 8:45pm, both at NFT 1.

Find out more about the screenings at the BFI website

Cult Clip: Aatank (1996)

A lot of popular Hollywood films have been remade in Bollywood and one of the most unusual Bollywood remakes has to be this knock-off of Steven Spielberg's Jaws (1975) called Aatank, which was released in 1996. I don't know much about Aatank since I've only managed to see clips of it on YouTube and it doesn't seem to be easily available on DVD or VHS at the moment. I do know that the movie was directed by Prem Lalwani and stars Nafisa Ali, Dharmendra and Vinod Mehra. You can see a clip from Aatank below, but unfortunately it doesn't feature any of the film's entertaining musical numbers. It does feature a giant shark though!

Christies Vintage Film Poster auction

Another Vintage Film Poster auction at Christies, with the usual mix of weird and wonderful movie artwork.

As you would expect, prices vary from the £100 mark right through to four figures, with much in-between, especially Bond and Breakfast At Tiffanys, so if you have any wants in that area, check out the listings. But I thought I'd highlight something a little less obvious - Peeping Tom - the controversial serial killer movie that more or less destroyed the career of director Michael Powell, but is now viewed as a 60s classic.

Posters, I imagine, are scarce. So at £400 - £600, this could be a shrewd investment, if expensive, investment.

See the full listings at the Christies website

DVD Review: Maurice Jarre: A Tribute to David Lean

Throughout David Lean's impressive career as a filmmaker he often worked with the talented French composer Maurice Jarre. Jarre composed soundtracks for many of Lean's award winning productions including Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Doctor Zhivago, (1965), Ryan's Daughter (1970) and A Passage to India (1984). The new DVD release of Maurice Jarre: A Tribute to David Lean from Milan Records is a wonderful celebration of the films that Lean and Jarre worked on together.

This impressive two disc DVD set features Maurice Jarre's 1992 tribute concert, which was performed at the Barbican Center in London with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra after Lean's death in 1991. During the concert, clips from the films that Jarre and Lean collaborated on were shown on a large screen behind the orchestra. These clips also feature behind the scenes footage of David Lean directing the cast and crew while making his films, which adds a personal touch to the event.

Pearl Chang Ling

The time has come, the walrus said, to speak of Pearl Chang Ling. Apologies to Lewis Carroll, but one suspects the master of loopy logic would feel right at home amidst the dreamy delirium of kung fu cinema’s weirdest heroine. As writer, director and star, Chang Ling played Alice in her self-imagined wonderland of swashbuckling fantasy, psychedelic sets, and surreal characters. That she was a successful female filmmaker in a male dominated industry is impressive enough. That movies like Dark Lady of Kung Fu (1981) and Miraculous Flower (1984) feature magical flying boots, zombies, heroic wolves, cell animated special effects, masked heroines, talking apes, satanic rituals, exploding intestines, fire-breathing monks, and a duel in an active volcano – make her downright loveable.

Background information on Chang Ling remains frustratingly scarce. A star on Taiwanese television, she supposedly married a wealthy producer, gaining carte blanche to produce the movies she wanted. Her best-known movie, Wolf Devil Woman (a precursor to Ronny Yu’s masterpiece The Bride with White Hair (1994)) exists on English dubbed VCD, but her finest film Matching Escort (1983) is readily available from Amazon, alongside an early swordplay fantasy My Blade, My Life (1977), produced by Chang but directed by Chen Ming Hwa.

10 Questions with Tom Lisanti

Above: Author Tom Lisanti with actress Francine York

Author Tom Lisanti has written numerous books about sixties-era screen starlets including Fantasy Femmes of 60's Cinema, Drive-In Dream Girls, Film Fatales and Hollywood Surf and Beach Movies: The First Wave, 1959-1969. Tom's latest book is called Glamour Girls of Sixties Hollywood: Seventy-Five Profiles and it features many profiles of beautiful actresses from that decade who are often overlooked such as Edy Williams, Lee Meredith, Melodie Johnson, Lisa Seagram, Tura Sutana, Susan Denberg, Sharon Tate, Beverly Adams, Victoria Carroll, Joy Harmon, Inga Neilson, Yvonne Craig and Ann Morell. I recently got the chance to ask Tom a few questions.

Cinedelica: Your latest book is called Glamour Girls of Sixties Hollywood and it features profiles on 75 actresses as well as some fascinating interviews. Were there any actresses that you especially enjoyed interviewing for your book?

Tom Lisanti: All the actresses were great but I have to say Lisa Seagram and Victoria Carroll kept me laughing throughout the interviews. They were a lot of fun.

DVD Review: The Shout (1978)

One things us Brits do well is quirky horror. it might not be the bloodiest horror, it might not be the most frightening - but it's always memorable. And that's very applicable to The Shout.

Because this isn't really a horror at all, it's more of a supernatural thriller. Or if you prefer, just plain odd. The movie starts in an asylum (always a good starting place), with a young doctor asked to keep the score of a cricket match between the inmates and the doctors. Beside him in the hut is a man called Crossley (Alan Bates). In return for keeping the scores of both teams, Crossley offers the young doctor the story of how he got there.

And in flashback, we get that take - although whether it's real or not is open to your own interpretation. In the wilds of Devon, we see Crossley meet up with a musician and sound engineer, Anthony Fielding (John Hurt). He ingratiates himself and gets invited for lunch with Fielding and his wife Rachel (Susannah York). He tells the pair of his life - of spending 18 years with Aborigines, killing his children under Aboriginal law and learning their ways and their 'magic'. He also tells Anthony of 'The Shout' - a shriek that can kill all in earshot. Anthony experiences 'The Shout' and sees its destruction, then sees his wife fall under the influence of Crossley. He must break the spell or face losing his wife to Crossley forever.

DVD Review: The Monster (aka I Don't Want To Be Born) (1975)

'Starring Joan Collins as the stripper cursed by a dwarf to give birth to a demonic child...'

So reads the packaging for The Monster, a truly bizarre mid-70s shocker from the hand of Peter Sasdy. Collins (then aged 42) is ex-stripper Lucy Carlesi, married to successful Italian businessman Gino Carlesi (played inexplicably by Ralph Bates, armed with the worst accent ever committed to film). She gives birth to their child - but this is no ordinary child. The child is growing fast and inflicting injury on all that go near him.

So, why is this child so evil? Well, it seems that Lucy fell foul of an infatuated dwarf called Hercules towards the end of her stripping career. And there's nothing so evil as a dwarf spurned, with Hercules planting a curse on poor Lucy, damning her to have a child 'as big as I am small' and possessed by the devil.

DVD Review: Sapphire and Steel The Complete Series Special Edition

Remember Sapphire and Steel? I have very vague recollections of it as a primary school child. What I do recall is that the show was slightly scary and very odd. Watching Sapphire and Steel The Complete Series Special Edition many years on and that opinion hasn't really changed.

Sapphire and Steel is indeed incredibly odd, both as a show and as a concept. To sum it up, Sapphire (Joanna Lumley) and Steel (David McCallum) are two of a number of elements, trusted to look after the fabric of time. If there's an anomaly, the elements are despatched to sort it out. For the show, this tends to be Sapphire and Steel, but other elements, such as Lead and Silver, occasionally pop up to help out in particularly tricky situations.

Not exactly today's idea of early evening viewing, but back in the late 70s, ITV obviously thought this mix of sci-fi, ghost story and thought-provoking drama was just what we needed after a hard day at work/school. Indeed, it was intended as genuine competition for the Beeb's Dr Who. It didn't really take off, developing the trademark cult following before being shelved by ITV after a few years and six 'assignments' (no stories were ever named). Shame really, because Sapphire and Steel is rather good.