settima

1970s

Frank Stein (Iván Zulueta, 1972)

Oct

30

Karloff

Frank Stein (1972)

The Monster (Karloff) in Zulueta's recut (via). DP: Iván Zulueta / Arthur Edeson + Paul Ivano.

A [favourite] Boris Karloff film*

“Well, as I said before, I say again, here's… Here's to a son… to the house of Frankenstein.”

– Baron Frankenstein

Zulueta's mycotoxic fever dream of Whale's Frankenstein.

 

* the Bales 2025 Film Challenge for October is horror-themed as opposed to date-based, and is all about favourites. Expect non-horror and films I believe to be relevant instead.

The Night That Panicked America (Joseph Sargent, 1975)

Oct

30

1938

The Night That Panicked America (1975)

Paul Shenar as Orson Welles (via). DP: Jules Brenner.

“Ladies and gentlemen, we interrupt our program of dance music to bring you a special bulletin from the Intercontinental Radio News.”

Śledztwo [The Investigation] (Marek Piestrak, 1974)

Oct

28

Śledztwo (1974)

A person offscreen shoots a handgun. DP: Edward Kłosiński.

Il caso Mattei [The Mattei Affair] (Francesco Rosi, 1972)

Oct

27

1962

Il caso Mattei (1972)

A group of well-dressed men, somewhere in a field, with Enrico Mattei (Gian Maria Volontè) in the centre. DP: Pasqualino De Santis.

“IF they want to kill me, let them do it.”

– Enrico Mattei

The Friends of Eddie Coyle (Peter Yates, 1973)

Oct

26

1972

The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973)

Eddie Coyle (Robert Mitchum) and Dillon (Peter Boyle) at the Boston Bruins game. DP: Victor J. Kemper.

A key scene takes place at an NHL game between the Chicago Blackhawks and the Boston Bruins at the Boston Garden. Bobby Orr and Eddie Johnston are seen playing for the Bruins, and Keith Magnuson, Tony Esposito, Bill White, Pat Stapleton, and Cliff Koroll are seen playing for the Blackhawks. The real game took place on October 26, 1972, and Chicago won 6-3 (via).

 

Emperor of the North Pole (Robert Aldrich, 1973)

Oct

25

Emperor of the North Pole (1973)

Lobbycard. The blurb reads: “The battle for the title of “Emperor of the North Pole” begins between Shack (ERNEST BORGNINE) and A-No. 1 (LEE MARVIN)“. DP: Joseph F. Biroc.

“Stay off the tracks. Forget it. Its a bum's world for a bum.”

– Shack

Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht [Nosferatu the Vampyre] (Werner Herzog, 1979)

Oct

22

eternal returns

Nosferatu (1979)

Adjani, Kinski, and Herzog on set. DP: Jörg Schmidt-Reitwein.

[A favourite] horror remake*

“I never thought I could be friends with a German again. But here I am… Werner is somehow like Murnau brought back to life.”

Lotte Eisner visiting the set of Herzog's Nosferatu (via)

Coming back to Murnau's expressionist masterpiece was Herzog's bridge between the films made by the grandfathers of German cinema and his era. Herzog, born in 1942 Munich, noted this void created by that philistine regime and felt that, by picking up the thread cut a quarter of a century earlier, German culture could see a restoration to its (non-nationalistic) greatness. Thus a menagerie of rats and actors was released in a reluctant, bourgeois Dutch town.

 

But that's a story for another generation to draw upon.

 

* the Bales 2025 Film Challenge for October is horror-themed as opposed to date-based, and is all about favourites. Expect non-horror and films I believe to be relevant instead.

仁義なき戦い [Jingi naki tatakai / Battles Without Honor and Humanity] (Kinji Fukasaku, 1973)

Oct

16

仁義なき戦い (1973)

Tetsuya Sakai (Hiroki Matsukata, L) and several of the other yakuza. DP: Sadaji Yoshida.

0課の女 赤い手錠 [Zeroka no onna: Akai wappa / Zero Woman: Red Handcuffs] (Yukio Noda, 1974)

Oct

15

1937

課0課の女 赤い手錠 (1974)

Rei (Miki Sugimoto) wielding the long red chain of her handcuffs. DP: Yoshio Nakajima.

Le passager de la pluie [Rider on the Rain] (René Clément, 1970)

Oct

10

Le passager de la pluie (1970)

Mélancolie 'Mellie' Mau (Marlène Jobert) and Col. Harry Dobbs (Charles Bronson), dancing. DP: Andréas Winding.

– You expect me to eat that?

– Americans live on ketchup and milk. I'm a whiz at geography.