The Last Wave - Lobby Cards (1978)

Another odd film from childhood, discovered on late night TV.  There were a lot of good Australian films around at that time that made quite an impression.


Steve

The Triple Echo (1972) - Lobby Cards

Watched this evening for the first time in decades; The Triple Echo remains a wonderful piece of British cinema with a bucolic English landscape cast as the back drop to a tale of moral ambiguity and brooding sexual tensions.  Its powerful storytelling, subtly played by some of our finest actors of the day.  Seeing it again now after all these years and realising that it is still every bit as good as the vague memory recalled, makes me appreciate what excellent taste I had as a kid but it also makes me wonder where it developed from?   Something to ponder upon in another post, perhaps.

Steve

Madam Sin (1972)

Having just watched Madam Sin for the first time, all the way through, I have to say that I really liked.  It does sort of fizzle out at the end in ways that I can't quite put my finger on but could be either a lack of money, a lack of care or just a quick fix to give it any kind of end once they realised it wasn't going to get picked up as the pilot of a new series.

The opening is strong though, the music and cinematography striking and with sonic guns, dastardly nuns and the casual charm that is Denholm Elliot, I was instantly hooked

In its set up it's a little bit; The Prisoner, a bit; Man in a Suitcase and maybe even a little bit The Avenger. None of which are bad things, especial at the start of the 70s

What I find most interesting about the movie though is that if, as had originally been intended, it had have become a TV series, exactly who's series would it have been?  Madam Sin the Moriarty style villainess as played by Bette Davis, Retired CIA agent Anthony Lawrence as played by Robert Wagner or even the presumed dead CIA agent and love interest Barbera as played by Catherine Schell.  Or all three of them?

Without giving away the movie's surprise ending, which may not have been true to the original pilot script, quite where episode 2, 3, 4 and so on would have taken us is anyone's guess but its fun to imagine what might have been.

Steve

The Touchables (1968)

It's not all nostalgia over here at Strange England because I'm not entirely sure that in and of its self, nostalgia is enough of an excuse for anything.  Sometimes, some of our destinations will be places I've been to and seen before and sometimes they'll be new - That's new as in old but new to me!

A good example of this would be The Touchables, the 1968 film that I only discovered existed for the first time today and then watched this very evening.  I have to say that I loved it and thought it was wonderful, being sexy, stylish, funny, eccentric and idiosyncratically English all at the same time.

They don't make them like this any more and probably never will again because those times are past and unrepeatable but thank Arcadia that such treats are now captured in digital amber.

The Touchables was everything the initial review had lead me to believe, including its tangential links to similar Strange England offerings such as Zardoz and The Final Program, other films which also have there own equally singular yet confident visions.  Its not going to be to everyone's tastes but if you enjoy either of the films above or the BFI Flipside releases then you should probably go check it out.  I found it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gtdqNTOHG4 but it lurks in other corners of the internet as well.

For some more facts and background info go here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Touchables_(film)

For the wonderful blog that tipped me off in the first place, and who's style I'm paying homage to right now, go here: http://ayearinthecountry.co.uk/week-4452-touchables-pop-art-pastoral-playland/

And finally for a gallery of lobby cards go here: http://strangeengland.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/the-touchables-lobby-cards-1968.html ....or just scroll down to the post below, which ever is quicker


Steve

In Xanadu did Kubla Khan. A stately pleasure-dome decree

The Touchables (1968) - Lobby Cards

Steve

Straw Dogs (1971) - Lobby Cards

 

 

Steve

Straw Dogs (1971)

Straw Dogs is such a seminal piece of 70's cinema that its very hard to imagine it being played out any other way than it is or having actors other than Dustin Hoffman and Susan George as the stars.  However it turns out that neither were necessarily first choice for their respective roles.

 

For the part of David Sumner; Stacy Keach, Beau Bridges, Donald Sutherland, Sidney Poitier and Jack Nicholson were all allegedly considered.  There's not a bad actor there but if I was to rewrite history I think Poitier would have been a more interesting choice although maybe that would have brought just one "ism" too many for the film to bear. 

 

For the role of Amy Sumner, again there is an handful of alternative names of which all could have carried it off with as equal aplomb as Susan George did.  I might also add that the list is very much a who's who of fanciable females from 70's cinema.  At least its a lot like my version of the list!

 

Hayley Mills, Jacqueline Bisset,  Diana Rigg, Helen Mirren, Carol White, Charlotte Rampling and Judy Geeson were all considered at some point.

 

 

And as you'll see from the evidence below, the latter even gets named checked on the back of the novel along with Dustin Hoffman and David Warner*

 

There's clearly a story there, the details of which we may never know for sure but along with our; "What if?" we also now have a mysterious "Why not?" as well

Interestingly its also reported that Hoffman didn't think George had the right kind of look for what he believed David Sumner's wife should be like.  And on top of that Gordon M Williams was not a fan of the changes Sam Peckinpah made to his novel and Peckinpah by retaliation, claimed not to think an awful lot of Williams writing ability.  All of which goes to show that you don't all necessarily have to be pulling in the same direction to make a great film.  And it is a great film.

 

Being only about 3 when it first came out I didn't see it until the late 70's early 80's but its potent stuff being at times both ambiguous and brutal which is a hell of a trick to pull off.

 

If you've never seen it then you probably should and if you have then you should really go watch it again.  I know I will be.

 

And that's it except to state for the record that I bloody love Susan George in Straw Dogs and the decades of other work she's appeared in.  What an actress.  What a Lady.

 

 

Steve

 

 

*Although noted on the paperback, David Warner remained uncredited on the actual film.  Some kind of crime, surely!  And of course we will be back to redress that at some point in the future