Ruggero Deodato's The Concorde Affair (1979)

Shot just before his brutal masterpiece Cannibal Holocaust (1980), 1979's The Concorde Affair is one of Italian director Ruggero Deodato's strangest and most disjointed productions; a deliberate and mostly unsuccessful take off on the American disaster films that were nearing the end of their heyday as this film appeared and quickly disappeared in the Spring of 79.
While the film itself never fully comes together, one can't blame the team in front of and behind the cameras that Deodato assembled for the production. Fans of both Italian and American cinema of this period will find much to savor in the opening credits as the names of famed screenwriter Ernesto Gastaldi and wonderful composer Stelvio Cipriani appear, as do the listings of several legendary actors ranging from Joseph Cotten to Mimsy Farmer.
The Concorde Affair's biggest problem lies in its convoluted plot (scripted by Gastaldi and Renzo Genta from an idea by Alberto Fioretti) that simply attempts to squeeze too much story into just over 90 minutes. The film, centering on a Concorde that has gone down in the ocean and a surviving stewardess being held hostage by members of the mob, seems to bury itself almost immediately and, even worse, it fails to ever generate a real sense of the fun that was inherent in so many of the films it is attempting to ape, with David Lowell Rich's infectiously silly Concorde: Airport 79 being chief among them.
The cast and Cipriani's propulsive score are the film's best attributes. Farmer gives a suitably hysterical and neurotic performance while leading man James Franciscus seems to be greatly enjoying himself. Other members, such as Cotton and Van Johnson, give professional if un-noteworthy performances but it is great to see them here none the less. Look out for cult-figure and future Cannibal Holocaust star Robert Kerman in a small uncredited role as an air traffic controller.
My copy of the film comes from an old Greek VHS and it looks fairly dreadful so I am unable to really comment on Federico Zanni's cinematography. I can only imagine that a crisp widescreen print of the film would help immensely. Deodato's direction is fine if slightly uninvolved, and one gets the idea that he knew the film was not destined to be one of the key works in his important filmography.

Released in Italy under the title Affare Concorde and in other parts of the world as Concorde Inferno '79 and S.O.S. Concorde, The Concorde Affair crash landed fairly quickly and remains one of Deodato's hardest to see productions in a good quality print, as apparently the DVD that has been released is a full screen version transferred directly from an old VHS copy.

The Art of the Movie Poster: A David Gilmore Birthday Edition

The Great Ones Vol.2 (Side A Track One) Mimsy Farmer

Among my favorite moments in any Dario Argento film is the climax of FOUR FLIES ON GREY VELVET where we see the intense Mimsy Farmer blow her top and then literally lose it. It's a moment that could have easily been made ridiculous in the hands of a lesser actor but Farmer handles it beautifully, giving us one of the great freak out moments in all of Italian horror and one of her most iconic moments in a pretty remarkable career.
Farmer was born in Chicago in February of 45 and made her debut as an actress in an episode of THE DONNA REED SHOW. Her first major role came at the age of sixteen Earl Hamner's SPENCER'S MOUNTAIN opposite Henry Fonda among others. The young Farmer already felt unique and delivered a very assured debut feature film performance as Claris.

Several years of tv work followed, as well as a part in the Ann-Margret vehicle BUS RILEY'S BACK IN TOWN, before Farmer appeared in a handful of biker and hot rod films. HOT RODS TO HELL, RIOT ON SUNSET STRIP, DEVIL'S ANGELS and THE WILD RACERS are all fun late sixties American exploitation flicks but it was Barbet Schroeder's powerful MORE that would really put Farmer on the map.

MORE is an uncommonly good 'drug' film that still feels unique and fresh today. Backed by an early Pink Floyd soundtrack MORE manages to be to pull off the tricky feat of being honest but not judgemental or condemning of its drug addicted main characters. Farmer's Estelle is a fascinating role and it is with a mixture of revulsion and sympathy as we watch her disintegrate through the film's intense two hour running time. Farmer mentioned in the Palmerini and Mistretta book SPAGHETTI NIGHTMARES that she was so good as the junkie Estelle that many people figured she was one in real life.
Farmer was credited as co-dialogue writer on MORE and the film signaled a new chapter in her career as she stayed on in Europe for much of the Seventies and Eighties. A role in STROGOFF opposite the always great John Phillip Law followed as did a role opposite Rita Hayworth in ROAD TO SALINA.
Dario Argento had remembered Farmer's intense work in MORE and in 1971 cast her as Nina in his final 'Animal trilogy Giallo' FOUR FLIES ON GREY VELVET. This hardest to see of all Argento's films features much of his trademark camera work and an incredible Morricone score but is Farmer who steals it. The aforementioned freak out and her death scene remain incredibly vivid in Argento's canon. Farmer fondly remembers Argento and the film in SPAGHETTI NIGHTMARES and it is a shame that the two didn't work together again, although apparently he did offer her a role in a later film that she turned down.
Farmer would continue working in Italy, often in International co-productions like the Alain Delon crime flick TWO MEN IN TOWN and 1974's THE SUSPECTS.
1974 would give Farmer possibly her greatest role in Francesco Barilli's strange and completely compelling PERFUME OF A LADY IN BLACK. This overwhelming and frankly brilliant Italian thriller is among the best of the seventies with Farmer delivering a vulnerable, moving and finally unhinged performance. It is among the great performances in genre cinema and this still unreleased, in the United States, film deserves a much wider audience. Highly recommended is Raro's imported special edition dvd of the film that can be purchased from the great Xploited cinema site.
After her extraordinary work in PERFUME OF A LADY IN BLACK, Farmer's career should have really taken off which makes it all the more unfortunate that it was her last truly great role. Some would argue that her work in Armando Crispino's AUTOPSY is among her finest, but it seems to me to be a let down after PERFUME.
The rest of Farmer's career is mostly made up of smaller supporting roles in some fine films, Ferreri's BYE BYE MONKEY and Campanile's GIRL FROM TRIESTE, and some poor ones.
She had larger roles in Deodato's CONCORDE AFFAIR 79 and Fulci's BLACK CAT but she didn't seem fully engaged anymore. One has to wonder if she simply recognized that the roles she was being offered didn't measure up to her talent, so she just didn't give as much as she had in the past. She said of her role in THE BLACK CAT that she, "was a little lazy and lacked motivation" but admitted to liking Fulci.
Farmer made her final acting appearance in an Italian tv movie in 1991. She currently resides in France. She would say of her career in SPAGHETTI NIGHTMARES, "I wish I were offered more intelligent and complex parts; on other hand, I don't exactly feel frustrated because, after all, what I have achieved isn't so bad." In a career featuring work as powerful as her performances in MORE, FOUR FLIES ON GREY VELVET, and PERFUME OF A LADY IN BLACK, I couldn't agree more. Not bad at all Mimsy.

A Tribute To Mimsy Farmer in Argento's Four Flies on Grey Velvet

This is part of my Four Flies on Grey Velvet Tribute Week at Harry Moseby Confidential.

***A few of the quotes below contain some spoilers***

The films of Dario Argento are not usually noted for the quality of their actor's performances but it is this very thing that keeps me returning to Four Flies On Grey Velvet even though finally it is perhaps not among his greatest works.
I find Mimsy Farmer's beautifully bruised performance to be one of the best the Italian genre cinema ever offered up...a surprisingly moving and powerful turn from an actress who has always been undervalued as one of the best of her generation. Farmer's performance is totally captivating and unforgettable, specifically in the last two scenes of the film that rank along the best of any Argento ever shot.
Here is a photographic tribute to Mimsy in Four Flies on Grey Velvet along with some quotes by Mimsy herself (taken from the out of print Spaghetti Nightmares by Luca M. Palmerini and Gaetano Mistretta) and from Dario and co-star Michael Brandon as well (taken from the essential Profoundo Argento by Alan Jones). I am also including a couple of quotes from both Roger Ebert and Tim Lucas on Mimsy's performance.

"Argento must have seen More and decided that I was good at playing the part of the neurotic woman." (Farmer)

"Mimsy Farmer had made a strong impression on me in Barbet Schroeder's More." (Argento)

"I had a great time...Argento invented the Italian thriller, so in a way he did for suspense films what Sergio Leone did for Westerns, in that he neglected the characters, the psychological aspects and the story in order to focus on the effects..." (Farmer)

"The movie is Four Flies on Grey Velvet, an Italian suspense film that has very little going for it except for Mimsy Farmer. She's the slight, blond girl who starred in More, a sex-drugs-violence movie shot with a certain hypnotic effectiveness in Morocco. She also starred in a few cheapo motorcycle movies about five years ago. She looks a little like Jean Seberg, has a marvelously sculptured face and deserves to get some of those Mia Farrow roles." (Roger Ebert)

"Argento made us work hard, even 14 hours a day." (Farmer)

"There is, however, the interesting Mimsy Farmer, who has the best mouth since Joey Heatherton." (Ebert)

"As for Dario, I rather liked him, except that the way he wanted to come across as neurotic all the time seemed ridiculous to me. Perhaps he was a little neurotic-all of us are to some extent-but certainly not as much as he wanted people to believe." (Farmer)

"Working with Mimsy Farmer is not of my clearest memories. I think she purposely withdrew from me because her Nina character turned out to be the killer and she wanted to keep it real and method." (Brandon)

"I didn't establish much of a relationship with him (Argento), although we spent several hours of the day together. We weren't alone, the crew was there too, and we only talked about work." (Farmer)

"Away from the film we didn't hang out or socialize. That's what she wanted." (Brandon)

""I think he overdid it slightly with his neurosis...but basically I think he was perfectly aware of what needed to be done in order to make the film a success." (Farmer)

"How else can you put a psychotic killer across on a thematic level unless you make their actions disturbing for those watching?" (Argento)

"I remember that this (the final monologue) was another scene we shot very late at night, around 3:00am. It didn't take long to do it because Dario used three cameras to shoot the master, the American plan and the close-up simultaneously. I think that on the whole we repeated the scene two or three times at the most." (Farmer)

"As always, the sharper the picture, the more attentive we can be to matters of performance and Mimsy Farmer gives one of her most interesting and brittle performances here." (Tim Lucas at Video Watchblog, from his post on the newer German DVD release.)

"My face was made up to look very pale and my lips, by contrast, quite red." (Farmer)

"Mimsy Farmer plays Brandon's wife with the brand of porcelain calm and bared electric wiring that is her trademark; when she is revealed as the puppet-master behind her husband's carefully engineered torment (I'm not revealing anything here that wasn't revealed in the movie's stills set), she's as convincing a psychopath as Argento ever showcased. McDonagh's book reveals that FOUR FLIES was the only one of Argento's films in which the director did not stand in for his killer; she surmises that this is because Brandon's resemblance to the director satisfied his narcissistic needs, but I can well imagine the white-coiffed Ms. Farmer flashing her clenched teeth at Argento the moment he got too near her black gloves and sending him cowering to the nearest corner." (Tim Lucas again at Video Watchblog, this time in his original look at the film.)

"Argento's idea was good, he wanted the character to shoot at the other person without aiming, as though it were a mechanical gesture rather than mediatated. It's an interesting idea. I shot without looking, carried away by the memories; I talked about my past and shot randomly, without hate." (Farmer)

"Four Flies on Grey Velvet wasn't bad...the effects were good, but it's a film I don't particularly care for...I think the film did well, though, and I believe Argento achieved what he had set out to do." (Farmer)

For my older tribute to Mimsy, focusing on her entire career, please visit here.

M.I.A. on Region 1 DVD Tribute Month (Film 20) Images From My All Time Favorite Films: Perfume of The Lady in Black (1974)

Francesco Barilli's beautifully composed and exquisitely shot Il Profumo Della Signora in Nero (The Perfume of the Lady in Black) is arguably the greatest Italian Giallo currently missing on Region 1 DVD. This eerie and wonderfully strange production from 1974 features a haunting score from Nicola Piovani, the wonderfully evocative and colorful photography of Mario Masini, and perhaps the greatest performance American actress Mimsy Farmer ever delivered. Currently available on a terrific DVD from Italy's Raro Label, The Perfume of The Lady in Black has still yet to receive any kind of North American release. Pity, as it is a major work.