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...

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

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.

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

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...

DVD Review: The London Nobody Knows (1967) / Les Bicyclettes de Belsize (1969)

There are numerous reasons why some films and TV shows become cult items, but obscurity/lack of availability is probably the biggest one. And that's certainly applicable to The London Nobody Knows and Les Bicyclettes De Belsize - both almost impossible to find or see since the 1960s and both available for the first time on a single DVD disc. But that's where the similarity ends as these two 'mini movies' have absolutely nothing else in common.

The London Nobody Knows has become a favourite of cult cinema nights in recent years, directed by Norman Cohen and based on a book by Geoffrey Fletcher, it's a look at the 'underbelly' of London in the late 60s through the eyes and voice of veteran actor James Mason.

DVD Review: Venus in Furs (1970)

"A woman nude in furs is somehow more erotic...inducing pleasure so great it becomes painful."  Quite.  Not to be confused with the Jess Franco movie lensed the same year, Venus in Furs is a more faithful adaptation of Leopold von Sacher-Masoch's infamous novel.  It benefits from the seductive presence of the awesome Laura Antonelli, a sexploitation starlet who went on to a respectable art-house career.  Severin (Regis Valee), an obsessive voyeur, craves to be whipped and humiliated following a childhood trauma.  He spies on his beautiful neighbour Wander (Antonelli) masturbating nude in furs and discovers she's happily aware of being watched.  What follows is a twisted love story between voyeur and provocative exhibitionist.  After marriage, Severin moulds Wanda into the perfect vessel for his fantasies, goading her into sex with strangers while he watches.  Happy at first, Wanda comes to resent his games and rebels.  Reborn as an unstoppable love monster she beds a succession of mustachioed hunks and drives Severin away.  The peculiar conclusion has Severin discover his wife's identical double: a gum-chewing prostitute more compliant to his desires.  As music swells, she whips him silly - a happy ending, of sorts...

Cinematographer-turned director Massimo Dallamano is best known for his excellent, "schoolgirls in peril" gialli (including What Have You Done to Solange?  (1971)).  His languid camera glides across Antonelli's silky flesh, fetishising every inch of her body, yet somehow avoids outright misogyny.  The dreamy, romantic tone softens the sleazy subject matter, coming across like a skin flick antidote to Love Story (1970). 

Cult Clip: Wonderwall trailer (1968)

Jo Massot's typically swinging sixties flick is rarely seen today, but if you want a glimpse of Wonderwall, you can check out the trailer below.

What's it about? Well. a wall of course - full of holes and used by a reclusive scientist to view a photographer and his model/girlfriend (Jane Birkin). Not officially available on DVD anymore, but you can still pick up used copies quite easily.

DVD Review: Austin Powers: International Man Of Mystery 10th Anniversary Special Edition (1997)

Is it really 10 years since the world 'shagadelic' came into being? It must be, because Austin Powers: International Man Of Mystery 10th Anniversary Special Edition is on the market.

I've got to be honest, I was dreading re-watching this. Time hasn't been too kind to the movie's legacy - the name 'Austin Powers' conjures up images of bad fancy dress costumes and even worse impressions, not to mention those tired old catchphrases. In fact, if someone proposed burying the movie (and its two sequels) underground for 100 years, I would have backed them all the way. But I did watch it again - and you know what? I actually enjoyed it.

Because despite all the baggage, this is a very funny, very well-written comedy spoof. And if you happen to have an obsession for 60s cinema (as I do), there's also the opportunity to bore your friends with a spot of 'reference spotting' from the likes of Our Man Flint, Dr Goldfoot, (original) Casino Royale, The Silencers, Valley Of The Dolls, Girl on A Motorcycle, Smashing Time, Blow-Up and various Bond movies to name just a fraction.

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:

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

Smashing Time at the NFT

Another 60s gem gets a rare one-off screening at the NFT - Smashing Time.

Possibly showing as part of a George Melly tribute (he had a hand in the scripting), the movie is the ultimate swinging 60s flick, with Lynn Redgrave and Rita Tushingham starring as two young girls from Bradford, looking to live the swinging London dream on Carnaby Street. They want the modelling jobs, the clothes and the lifestyle - and eventually get it, but entirely by accident. Is it worth it? Well, you'll have to watch the film to find out.

The organisers also hope to have Rita Tushingham for a Q&A after the screening, so well worth making the effort to get down. It's on Tuesday 20th November at 6.15pm.

More about this event at the BFI website

Check out a clip from Smashing Time

Review: Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush at the NFT

The Scenester skips along to the NFT to check out the showing of Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush, complete with Hunter Davies Q&A.

What other decade could a film with the title Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush possibly has been made in? It was probably unnecessary for our friends at the National Film Theatre to place it fairly, but not squarely, in the Psych Sunsplash 67 series, so evocative was that title.

A few of you VHS devotees may have picked up a copy from television many years ago, but for those of us who missed it, this nugget was a real treat. So with a spring in the step, I raced to the South Bank as soon as the 5:30 bell rang, and sank a swift one before diving into the fabulous NFT1, beneath London Bridge. Hunter Davies, a man who needs little introduction, was on hand to let us know how he came to write the novel this film was based on, even showing us his personal copy of the book, complete with appliqué lips on the cover that seemed to pucker up when you walked past it. If anyone out there in Modland has an original copy with these lips still intact, you’ve got a valuable artefact, as Hunter reckons that constant handling in the shop nearly always resulted in the lips falling off!

Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush at the BFI

Not often seen - and certainly not on the big screen - 1967's Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush gets a showing at NFT 1 at the BFI South Bank in London on Friday 21st September, kicking off at 6:15 pm.

It's the latest Flipside presentation, under the heading Psych Sunsplash '67. And as well as seeing forgotten teen star Barry Evans swinging to a Spencer Davis Group/Traffic soundtrack, you also get two other 60s rarities to entertain you.

A Valentine For Tony Blackburn and Barry Evans is just that - the two men receiving cards from adoring fans in 1968. While In Gear (Look At Life) from 1967 is a trip round the era's grooviest boutiques.

Add to that a Q&A with Hunter Davies (novelist and screenwriter of Mulberry Bush) and the night looks like a winner. See the BFI website for ticket details and pricing.

Find out more at the BFI website

The Party (1968)

“Birdie num num”

The Party is one hell of a funny film and one that director, Blake Edwards should be rightly proud of with its abundant (and hilarious) sight gags and a sparkling script adding the finishing sheen to a colouful, stylish vehicle for the comedic talents of a certain Peter Sellers.

‘The Pink Panther’ (1963) had of course, propelled Messrs Sellers and Edwards into the stratosphere and having worked together again on another Clouseau adventure, ‘A Shot In The Dark’ (1964), they embarked on this foray into unadulterated daftness.

Hrundi V Bakshi (Sellers) an incompetant film extra, fresh from fouling up his last movie, is erroneously invited to a swish Hollywood party. From the moment he arrives at the oppulant pad he causes chaos and as he moves from one excruciating situation to another, the party starts to unravel resulting in psychedelic pandemonium.

Salt And Pepper (1968)

“I saw this movie once….”

Recommended purely for its oddity value and the inclusion of killer dancefloor track, “I like The Way You Dance”. Hollywood’s Rat Pack, Frankie and the boys, all tanned and finger-snappingly cool, hit the 1960s running but rapidly slowed to a crawl as they encountered the swinging 60s proper. Out of all of them, Sammy Davis Jr, always a dude in my opinion, had a fair old stab at getting on down with the kids and you could expect to see his snake hipped presence, decked out in all the ‘now gear’, gracing both the big and small screen come the late 60s.

Plugging in to the zeitgeist for all things British, he joined old RP comrade, Peter Lawford, for Salt And Pepper, a messy, unfunny film about conspiracy and intrigue surrounding the owners of a Soho nightclub. Overdoing it with the London-as-a-multi-hued-landscape-of-bobbies-doubledeckers-red-phone-boxes-and-aristocrats shtick it nonetheless draws the eye to the groovy action. The humour misfires embarrassingly and the two old lads in their hipsters, roll necks and Carnaby jackets look somewhat uncomfortable. Sammy fares the best though and his character is a bit of a dry run for his show stopping turn as Big Daddy Brubeck in the following years ‘Sweet Charity’…..”Flip your wings and fly to Daddy”.

Believe it or not this had a reputedly dafter sequel, ‘One More Time’..never seen that movie….

Anyhow, here’s a trailer complete with that killer song…

Mark Ellis

Watch the Blow-Up remake

OK, this isn't a Blow-Up remake as such, it's a project by visual artist Christoph Draeger, who re-created the famous Ricky Tick club scene, where the Yardbirds play Stroll On to a bunch of statuesque scenesters.

Personally I think it's pretty good. And the band playing The Yardbirds are called The Paisley Riot.

Cult Clip: The Knack...And How To Get It (1965)

Richard Lester's The Knack...And How To Get It still stands up as a great 60s period piece - and well worth watching if you're a fan of the era, but it's hard to class it as a great film, even with one of John Barry's finest soundtracks in the background.

If you want a taste of it, check out the trailer below. And if it's our thing, you can pick it up for less than a fiver at Amazon.

The Touchables (1968)

I acquired the soundtrack LP to The Touchables in the late 80s, hooked initially and unsurprisingly by the groovy girls on the cover and the inclusion of my fave Hammond organ demon, Wynder K Frog, on the track list.

I read somewhere, the synopsis for this long lost artefact of swinging London excess and marvelled at the plot concerning an arrogant pop star kidnapped by four pulchritudinous dollybirds and kept as a sexual plaything in a see through pleasure bubble in the English countryside. Blimey! That’s all I could find out at the time…oh yes and its lack of availability….darn! Nothing on the LP either to convey fevered kinky couplings, except a bit of greasy Hammond courtesy of Mr Frog….the sometimes patchy soundtrack also featured a bit of white soul from Ferris Wheel, flowerpop from Roy Redman and cult psych band, Nirvana.  It also turns out to have been directed by Beatles photographer, Robert Freeman and written by the masterful Ian La Frenais and the late great genius, Donald Cammell….I still haven’t seen it!

Anyhow, the wonderous Youtube has come up trumps with some footage from this scarce movie..enjoy….

Mark Ellis

DVD Review: Jess Franco Collection Volume 2 (1975 – 1994)

Remember that period between Steven Spielberg directing AI: Artificial Intelligence and Munich when the film fraternity thought he’d become a workaholic? “Wow, six films in four years,” they said in the press. “They don’t even involve a subtext about a family breaking up.” 

They probably didn’t, actually, but if you are surprised that in the world of the Hollywood blockbuster a director/producer can knock out films at speed, then can I turn your attention to Jess Franco? Since beginning his career writing music for films at the improbable age of six (when most of us had the musical talent to scrape a stick down the side of a wooden fish or bang blocks together), the Spanish director has clocked up over 180 directing and writing credits, and he doesn’t look like stopping in his dotage.

Born in Madrid in 1930, Jesus Franco was a jack of all trades, training to be a lawyer and then trying his hand at novels. After a few short films, he started directing properly in 1959, although the man who penned and directed both Swedish Nympho Slaves and Two Female Spies with Flowered Panties isn’t short of critics. Directing horror, sex, and horror sex, Franco has been a notable straight and hardcore porn director. It’s fair to say anything goes in Franco-world.

DVD Review: Bigas Luna Collection (1990-94)

We all carry preconceptions. Just as Brits are thought of as reserved types who’d rather have a cuppa than a roll in the hay, we in this country (fuelled by fortnights on the Costa Brava and repeats of Duty Free) tend to think of the Spanish as lazy, ill-educated and obsessed with sex and siestas. When pressed, that’s the image most people get in their mind’s eye.

Bigas Luna, the Spanish director, tends to see things just that little bit differently. He sees his compatriots as passionate, imaginative, highly sexual and as vibrant a culture as any country assumes they have the monopoly on. Perhaps not as celebrated as fellow Spaniard Pedro Almodóvar, Luna still manages to make films that bristle with energy and ideas. They’re just a bit skewed in their execution.

One of his earlier efforts, The Ages of Lulú (1990), kicks off this collection. Lulú (Francesca Neri) is a fifteen year old girl who fancies her brother’s best mate, Pablo (Óscar Ladoire). That may be a common tale, but taking her home and introducing her to the wonders of shaving foam certainly isn’t, and before long Pablo and Lulú are at it like Duracell bunnies. Separated by time and the Atlantic, Lulú meets up with Pablo and their affair sparks again. They marry, and spend most of their time, spare or otherwise, testing the bed for durability.

DVD Review: Daisy Chain (1965)

Daisy Chain (a.k.a. Das Liebeskarussell, 1965) is a sixties style sex comedy made in Germany by directors Rolf Thiele, Axel von Ambesser and Alfred Weidenmann. The movie was released on NTSC Region-1 DVD late last year by Televista and I recently decided to give it a look since it features two of my favorite actresses, the lovely Catherine Deneuve and Anita Ekberg. Unfortunately Daisy Chain has very few laughs and it's rarely sexy, which makes it impossible to recommend.

The movie is narrated by a loony psychiatrist who tells four different stories about his various patients and their sexual problems. The stories are all played for laughs, but the jokes really fall flat.

Anita Ekberg and Catherine Deneuve look fabulous in Daisy Chain, but these talented actresses are both wasted in their lackluster roles. Anita Ekberg plays a woman named Lolita who charms her shy neighbor Peter (played by the popular Austrian entertainer Peter Alexander). Catherine Deneuve has the more interesting role as one of the psychiatrist's "troubled" patients. She plays a young bride who's unhappy with her much older husband and she pretends to sleepwalk so she can carry out an affair with her handsome male neighbor.

DVD Review: Virgin Witch (1971)

This entertaining satanic sexploitation flick was released on Region-1 NTSC DVD as part of Image Entertainment's Redemption label late last year and if you're a fan of British horror films from the 1970s I think it's worth a look.

Virgin Witch features the cute British actresses and sisters, Ann Michelle and Vicki Michelle. The girls play sisters Christine & Betty in the film. When Christine (Ann Michelle) gets her big chance at modeling after applying to the Sybil Waite's Agency, the girls find themselves at an eerie old estate for a weekend photo shoot.

Sybil Waite (Patricia Haines) has lured Christine there for more than just modeling. Sybil's recruiting a virgin for induction into a witches' coven led by the owner of the estate, Gerald Amberly (Neil Hallett). Sybil has also become enamored with the pretty Christine and she makes a successful attempt to seduce her. Unfortunately for everyone involved Christine is not as innocent as she seems, and we soon discover that she has evil plans of her own.

New Bedazzled DVD

Next week 20th Century Fox will finally be releasing Stanley Donen's Bedazzled (1967) on NTSC Region-1 DVD. The movie has been available in the UK on PAL DVD for a few years, but next week will mark the first time this classic comedy has been available on DVD in the US.

The movie stars Dudley Moore as the hapless Stanley Moon, a cook working at Whimpy Burger who is hopelessly in love with a waitress named Margaret (Eleanor Bron), but Margret hardly knows that he's alive. When Stanley decides to kill himself and end his misery, the smooth-talking George Spiggott (Peter Cook), a.k.a. Satan, appears and grants Stanley seven wishes to help him win over Margaret. Unfortunately his attempts are thwarted at every turn by the appearance of the Seven Deadly Sins, which include the lovely Lilian Lust (Raquel Welch).

DVD Review: Cool It, Carol! (1970)

Cool It, Carol! is a rather dark British sex comedy that was recently released on NTSC Region-1 DVD in the US by Image Entertainment. The movie is directed by the creative British exploitation filmmaker Pete Walker, who made lots of horror films and sex comedies in the late sixties and seventies, and it features the popular period actor Robin Askwith along with Janet Lynn.

Carol (Janet Lynn) is a pretty, but simple young girl who likes showing men her knickers and dreams about becoming a model. Joe (Robin Askwith) likes fantasizing about working for high-end car dealerships and driving expensive sport cars.

Joe & Carol decide to leave their small town and low-paying jobs behind them, and move to swinging London to pursue their dreams. Together they explore the city while looking for work, but they don’t have much luck. The young couple soon finds out that London is a tough place to survive in if you're jobless, so they naively turn to prostitution and performing in stag films for extra money.

Cult Clip: Georgy Girl (1966)

Another slab of Swinging London, this time with Lynn Redgrave in Georgy Girl. She's not doing the swinging - that's left to hip chick Meredith (Charlotte Rampling) and her fella Jos (Alan Bates). Redgrave is too busy dodging the affections of her father's employer James Leamington (James Mason).

And if one clip sums up Georgy Girl, it's the film's introduction...

Cult Clip: Bedazzled (1967)

It worries me to a large degree that an entire generation now associates Bedazzled with Liz Hurley. Don't fall for it - the definitive version was made in 1967 with Peter Cook and Dudley Moore - inferior copies just aren't worth considering.

Enjoy this clip of Drimble Wedge and the Vegetations - then go out and buy the original on DVD, which is available for under £5 on Amazon right now.

What's Good For The Goose (1969)

If you're looking for a cinematic example of British psychedelia, you wouldn't expect to find it in a Norman Wisdom film. But I'm telling you that's where you'll find it - courtesy of What's Good For The Goose (aka Girl Trouble).

It's a fantastic period piece, hugely entertaining and featuring some great footage of The Pretty Things at their peak. What more can you ask? The story is all about midlife crisis - Wisdom is assistant bank manager Timothy Bartlett, sent to a banking conference in Southport after the branch manager falls in the day before. On his way over, the straight-laced Bartlett picks up two hitchhikers, one of which (Nikki, played by Sally Geeson) catches his eye.

Cinema Art: Blow-Up canvas (1966)

If the Michelangelo Antonioni season got your pulse racing, this Polish Blow-Up film canvas from Habitat's latest art range might just be for you.

The original film poster for Blow-Up is one of the most famous in the world. Except possibly in Poland, where a new image for the film was created by artist Waldemar Swierzy. And in my view, it's every bit as appealing as the more widely-known Hemmings and model image and indeed more true to the film title - this is a "blow-up" of a photograph.

Swierzy's original poster does command a hefty price tag these days. The Habitat canvas, sized at 70cm x 100cm and ready to hang sells at £95.

Find out more at the Habitat website

More Cinema Art

Peter Whitehead at the NFT

Peter Whitehead's work as chronicler of the counter-culture is celebrated from March 1st - March 11th 2007 at London's NFT, including a "meet and greet" with the man himself.

As you can imagine from someone capturing the cutting edge of the the late 60s, his work is interesting, but unlikely to appeal to typical regular cinema-goers. Still, there's plenty worth checking out for fans of the era, including his most famous work - Tonite Let's All Make Love in London, which is still probably the best recorded document of "Swinging London" and indeed, the people that were doing the swinging.

And if you want to find out more about the man, book a ticket for Peter Whitehead in Conversation on March 7th, which covers his past works, a glimpse of current work in progress and an interview with Whitehead on the NFT stage.

Find out more at the NFT website

DVD Review: Twinky (1969)

Another period piece gets the reissue treatment. This time Twinky, a lighthearted tale of love across an age gap in the swinging sixties.

It stars Susan George as Sybil Londonderry, also known as Twinky, a 16-year-old naive and excitable schoolgirl who falls for an older man - the 38-year-old Scott Wardman (played surprisingly by Charles Bronson), an American author of 'adult' fiction, writing his latest novel in London.

Twinky's parents discover her fling with the author through entries in her diary and with Wardman's visa about to expire (and questions about the legality of their relationship - something the film rather sidesteps), the couple decide to rush off to Scotland for a quickie wedding, then head for the US to start a new life.

Dr Goldfoot And The Bikini Machine (1965)

Spoofing 60s spy flicks isn't a recent phenomena - they were doing it at the time, typified by Dr Goldfoot And The Bikini Machine, which I recently re-acquainted myself with courtesy of a 50p junk shop find.

It's a film with everything, with the exception of solid plot and budget. It certainly has a decent cast - Vincent Price as Dr Goldfoot (yes, he wears gold shoes) and fading teen star Frankie Avalon as secret agent Craig Gamble. The plot is simple, but ridiculous - Goldfoot has created a machine that throws out young women in gold bikinis. They're then programmed with the skills and knowledge to seduce the rich and famous, allowing their creator access to the wealth of each victim.

But something goes wrong - and one of the robots seduces agent Craig Gamble instead of millionaire Todd Armstrong. After a bit of reprogramming, the bikini-clad robot succeeds in working her magic on Armstrong - but Gamble has already fallen for her and is determined to track down the robot girl.

Cult Clip: The Cool Ones (1967)

I've never seen The Cool Ones, but after witnessing this music, merriment and excessive go go dancing, it's just jumped to the top of my 'wants' list. See what you think...

Cinema Art: Tonite Let's All Make Love In London (1967)

To kick off our look at some of the great art featured on cinema walls, we look at Peter Strausfeld and his poster for Tonite Let's All Make Love In London at the Academy Cinema.

Strausfeld was interned during World War two with Academy Cinema director George Hoellering. After the war, Hoellering asked Strausfeld to do posters for the Academy Cinema - which he did until 1980.