Splash is on paper a movie that really should not work. I remember being sent to review this for the student paper and rolled my eyes at the “man falls in love with mermaid” high concept. I was fully prepared for it to be terrible, but it turned out to be one of the best…
Eureka / Bad Timing
These are two posters for movies by the late English auteur Nicolas Roeg. Roeg is probably best known for Don’t Look Now, his nightmarish loose adaptation of a Daphne de Maurier story and The Man Who Fell To Earth, which memorably cast David Bowie as an alien. Eureka and Bad Timing both came after these,…
The Sound Of Music
I must admit I have never been a huge fan of movie musicals. My wife, however, loves them! The Sound Of Music is her all-time favourite movie. So I was happy recently to be able to pick up this US one-sheet poster from the original first release. (It went into limited release with a view…
Where Eagles Dare
“Broadsword calling Danny Boy…” If those words jump out at you then, like me, you’ve probably sat through Where Eagles Dare multiple times. It remains one of the very best WWII “men on a mission’ movies – terrific action sequence, a twisty (and admittedly somewhat ridiculous) plot, plus great chemistry between Richard Burton’s verbose British…
Countess Dracula
This eerie poster is for one of the better latter-day Hammer horrors. Hammer’s output in the 1970s was patchy at best, as the company increasingly came to play up nudity in the mix to sell tickets for movies such as The Vampire Lovers and Vampire Circus. This film’s title is (deliberately) misleading however – there’s…
Rust Never Sleeps
This is a movie that I have never seen, although I have listened to the soundtrack album many times. Rust Never Sleeps was a concert film made in 1979 as a showcase for Neil Young and Crazy Horse. I saw Neil Young once years ago (on the “Trans” tour, super-fans) and frankly I found it…
This Woman Is Dangerous / Mommie Dearest
There’s no two ways about it – Joan Crawford had a reputation as an out and out bitch. I’ve not seen This Woman is Dangerous as far as I can recall, but it is a melodramatic noir thriller from 1952. I bought this poster cheaply because I thought it was a great image and with…
The Wild One
Here is a very famous movie who’s cultural impact is remembered much more than the film itself. Before Easy Rider, The Wild One was the original iconic outlaw biker movie. Marlon Brando stars as the leader of a biker gang who terrorise a small American town. It is all very tame stuff by today’s standards…
The Face Of Fu Manchu
Here’s a poster and a movie from a very different era…. I remember catching the series of Christopher Lee’s Fu Manchu movies on afternoon television in the 70s. They were obviously considered harmless escapist fare, suitable for kids. Back in the day, it was fine for a Caucasian actor to put on “Asian” eye…
Monsters From An Unknown Planet / Godzilla
I was never much of a Godzilla geek, although I do remember watching some of the old, badly dubbed Japanese originals on afternoon TV as a kid. The kick out of watching these films inevitably came from seeing the regular wanton destruction of Tokyo model sets by men in rubber suits. It was interesting also…