Nastassja On Ebay #6

Here is a shot I have never seen before that just popped up on Ebay. Lovely photo that looks to be from I would say around the STAY AS YOU ARE period...

Eli Roth's 24 Hours Of Horror

William Friedkin isn't the only American director this week tipping his hat to the Italians. The A.V. club has a great new interview with Eli Roth here, where the HOSTEL director takes us through his ideal twenty four hour horror film marathon. I love Eli's choices, and admire how diverse they are. I was thrilled to see him select Fellini's TOBY DAMMIT as one, and loved this quote about Terence Stamp's unmatchable performance, "it's Terence Stamp in one of the single greatest performances I've ever seen. It's my favorite short film of all time, of anything I've ever seen. He's brilliant."
Click the link for Roth's full list and his thoughts on each iconic film.

Friedkin On Argento

William Friedkin has contributed a list of his favorite horror films to EW. I was pleased to see several favorites on there, including Argento's DEEP RED and SUSPIRIA.
Here are some of Friedkin's generous comments towards Argento. Visit this link if you'd like to read the rest of his comments, and see his complete list. It is great to see one of my favorite American director's speaking so highly of Argento.

"These two films are just finally tuned machines to scare the hell out of you. And they do. They are the classic blood-spattered slasher films that have been imitated, copied, and remade without credit. They're strictly in the realm of fantasy, but Argento, being the great living master of horror, is so talented that they'll scare anyone who sees them.''

Happy Halloween

Thanks to everyone who continues to read and comment here, I really appreciate the support. I hope everyone has a great and safe Halloween.

Nastassja On Unfaithfully Yours

Unfortunately I haven't been able to locate too many quotes from Nastassja on UNFAITHFULLY YOURS, so I am including some by her director and co-star as well here.
From what I gather, this was a pleasant shoot where everyone appeared to get along. After several incredibly difficult productions, UNFAITHFULLY YOURS probably felt a bit like a breath of fresh air for Nastassja to film back in 1984.

"She has great instincts. She still hasn't cracked the surface of all that beauty and talent. She's going to be a big star."
-Direcor Howard Zieff-

"There is something so ready to run about her. She almost looks like a deer with those big eyes and the sturdy stance she's got. She is always vigilant, receiving these signals, always ready to move away and hide. She is not quite comfortable with herself, but that, again, is a lot of the charm of her, the fact that she really doesn't quite see it, then does, then doesn't. It's like strobe lighting. She goes back and forth with ambivalence about herself."
-Dudley Moore-

"Nastassja is desperately insecure...she'll cry her eyes out on many film sets to come and yet she has never been better."
-Dudley Moore-

"She's becoming more striking and assured."
-Pauline Kael after seeing UNFAITHFULLY YOURS-

"I was convinced after I met her for half an hour, almost a year before we began shooting. She's so surprisingly effervescent, ebullient, full of vivacity....her part is filled with energy, she really has to go, and she's fabulous: everything is happening so easily I am in shock. She reminds you of a 19 year old Ingrid Bergman or sometimes when she's full out-like Sophie Loren in her prime. She's so young, so amazing, with phenomenal eyes. I can't see her going anywhere but to major stardom."
-Zieff-

"In this movie I get to curse with an Italian accent. I love slang, but I especially love to curse in Italian you know? WE used to live in Rome when I was little, and my father cursed all day, all the time. He cursed the traffic, cursed about money, cursed everybody. I found out that cursing can feel so good."
-Nastassja-

"What can you say about him? No one was ever as generous as Dudley. He was so helpful and his support was so uplifting for me! I've never seen anybody who could be so flexible and light in what he does. The great art is to float above the work and he can do that. He can change in an instant. He'll walk off the set and play the most wonderful piece of music and then you'll call him back for the scene and he'll be ready to work at once."
-Nastassja on Dudley Moore-

"It's a joke, it's funny...but at the same time it's more than a joke to me. It's an understanding...in a way I panicked about each new take, but on the other hand, I want a new one like a drug. I do scenes over and over again, and then when I make sure that no one can do them again, I tell the director what I did wrong and what I should have done. It is perverse. Then I sit back in painful pleasure and think about how much better it could have been. The director laughs, but he is frustrated too. It is the same with many things I do. I make sure it's too late, and the I really attack it. I take pleasure in diminishing what I've done and try to top it with something that can never be done."
-Nastassja-

"I was trying to clear out everything in that scene, to imagine myself new-mentally and physically...I don't work with techniques; I work to by feel. And an emotion is something alive. You can't say: 'Hold it emotion!'
-Nastassja-

"I realize that whether you;re making people laugh or cry, you give them something. And the whole thing is to go to a movie, see somebody on screen and communicate with them...sometime, when you're lonely, you go to movies-I like old ones especially-and you feel fulfilled. Somebody is there for you."
-Nastassja-

Rare Scans #16 (Unfaithfully Yours Ads)

How's this for a great afternoon at the movies? After checking an early matinee of Nastassja in UNFAITHFULLY YOURS you could have swung over and caught an early evening show of Brian De Palma's SCARFACE. And you could have done it for well under ten dollars...forgive the lack of posts over the weekend. More UNFAITHFULLY YOURS is coming soon...

Hostel Part Two: The DVD

I will be posting another look at Eli Roth's HOSTEL 2 to go along with this one soon. I did want to say though that the few problems I had with the film on my first viewing have pretty much disappeared. The film, as it plays in its striking uncut form on disc, gets better and better with each viewing, and it has quickly become one of my favorite horror films of the decade.
The DVD contains some solid special features that are entertaining as well as informative. Italian horror fans will absolutely want to check the disc out for a brief but beguiling interview with Edwige Fenech (and some shots of an awe struck Roth directing her), as well as an interesting short talk with Ruggero Deodato.
Even better is the producer's commentary with Roth and Tarantino that plays like a love letter to the Italian horror genre in general. After watching the film again and viewing the extras, I must say that it is indeed Sergio Martino's masterful TORSO that seems to be the film that HOSTEL TWO is most indebted to. Readers here will know that Martino's underrated Giallo is among my favorite films, and frankly seeing this much love thrown at it was refreshing to say the least.

Here are two shots of Eli and Edwige from his MySpace page. Be on the lookout for a long review for this woefully underrated and unjustly maligned film here soon.

Joe Dallesandro on Film: La Marge (The Streetwalker) 1976

"Despite a generally poor reputation, even among admirers of its director Walerian Borowczyk, LA MARGE is, quite simply, a masterpiece."
Brad Stevens, Video Watchdog Issue 32.

Recently I selected thirty or so films as the most essential (or greatest) foreign films I had ever seen. To honor Polish director Walerian Borowczyk I selected his amazing 1980 feature DR. JEKYLL AND HIS WOMEN for the list. While I do think that that surreal nightmarish masterpiece is his finest film, if I had to select a favorite I would have to go with a film he shot five years earlier in 1976.
LA MARGE is one of the oddest films in the legendary Borwoczyk's filmography. The great master would typical deal in period pieces for his life action epics, but LA MARGE is very much of the time it was made in. I would say that as much as any other film from the seventies, that it belongs to the decade. Everything from the clothes to the music, to the look and attitude makes LA MARGE one of the quintessential features of the 1970's and, to my eyes, one of the best.
To me Walerian Borowczyk is in the same league with the likes of Stanley Kubrick, and his work should be being picked apart in film schools all over the world. Unfortunately film audiences and critics have too long shunned this iconic and talented director, due to his subject matter, shooting style and sheer nerve. LA MARGE might be among the easiest opening to his film world, but perhaps not the most ideal as it is so different from his other work.
Borowczyk came to prominence in the sixties with his landmark animated work that made him a critical darling and more than respected amongst his peers. He busted through the live action film world with his memorable GOTO, ISLAND OF LOVE in 1968 and for short while it seemed that his feature film career would match the success of his animated one. 1971's beautiful and haunting BLANCHE seemed to suggest an even further step into the cinematic pantheon for Borowczyk but 1974's IMMORAL TALES stunned audiences and critics with its audacious eroticism and over the top imagery.
If the masterful IMMORAL TALES sounded the call that Walerian Bororwczyk was not going to fall easily into the accepted European art mode, then his 1975 feature THE BEAST closed the door on it entirely. Frank, shocking, possibly pornographic ( I guess it depends on who you ask) and completely unforgettable, THE BEAST became one of the seventies most controversial and reviled productions. It would close off Borowczyk from the critical Establishment and the mainstream film world for the rest of his life, and I can't imagine he would have wanted it any other way.
After the flabbergasted reception of THE BEAST, Borowczyk scored a surprise almost hit with STORY OF SIN from the same year. STORY OF SIN felt different than the master's other films, emotionally it was more moving and resonate. It would be these qualities that Borowczyk would bring to the film he would begin shooting just after wrapping STORY OF SIN, namely LA MARGE.

LA MARGE, in a way, can be viewed as Borowczyk's last effort to really score a hit with an almost mainstream film. It was based on a well known novel by Andre Pieyre de Mandiargues (whose work Borowczyk would film five times), it would be scored with some of the seventies biggest musical acts (including 10CC, Elton John and Pink Floyd) and it would star an actress who two years before had become the biggest box office draw in French cinema, Sylvia Kristel.

The vastly underrated Sylvia Kristel called LA MARGE her favorite role she ever did in her recent autobiography, NUE (UNDRESSING EMMANUELLE). It is a seminal role in it and she is breathtakingly good in the film. The mid seventies were a remarkable time for the Dutch born EMMANUELLE star. Within three years she would work with not only Borowczyk, but Alain-Robbe Grillet, Roger Vadim, Francis Girod, Francis Giacobetti and Claude Chabrol. Sylvia Kristel was virtually written out of French film history in the eighties and has remained a bit of a lost figure since. Her performance in LA MARGE (as well as the other work she did in this period) is an almost shocking reminder as to how good she was in these films, and how popular she was with not only the great directors of the period, but also film audiences.
Joining Kristel was another actor on a bit of a roll. American icon Joe Dallesandro had stayed on in Europe after travelling over with Paul Morrissey and crew a few years earlier for FLESH FOR FRANKENSTEIN and BLOOD FOR DRACULA and he, like Kristel, was becoming more and more in demand for some of Europe's top directors. He had just come off films with Louis Malle and Serge Gainsbourg when he stepped in front of Borowczyk's camera to deliver, what I consider, his greatest performance.
Joining Borowczyk were some familiar names to fans of his work, most notable of these were Bernard Daillencourt as cinematographer. Daillencourt had previously collaborated on both IMMORAL TALES and THE BEAST, so he was no stranger to Borowczyk's striking painterly like compositional style. His work with the Polish great would bring him to the attention of David Hamilton (who along with Borowczyk probably set the standard for seventies eroticism) and Hamilton hired him on for a handful of his films including BILITIS (1977) and LAURA (1979). Daillencourt's work on LA MARGE is a major achievement. The film has an eloquent but down to earth (even dingy) style to it that separates it from almost any other film from the period (specifically the glossiness of a film like EMMANUELLE or Hamilton's later works).

The plot of LA MARGE is simple. A businessman leaves his country home, and wife and young son for a business trip to Paris. While there he develops a sexual and spiritual bond with a call girl. When he gets word from home that his son has accidentally downed and his wife has killed herself, his world begins to completely crumble around him.
The plot is the least of LA MARGE'S many virtues. Like all of Borowczyk's works, LA MARGE reminds an audience of film's capability to give the moving image an undeniable soul. Everything from his angles, to the way he shoots Kristel and Dallesandro during their love scenes show Borowczyk as being among the great cinema stylists in history.
The love scenes in the film are particularly noteworthy. Simply put, no one shot the human form like Walerian Borowczyk, and he photographs every inch of both Kristel and Dallesandro with such devotion that it is hard to not be genuinely moved by it.
While LA MARGE is undoubtedly another chapter in Borowczyk's unmatchable image museum, the sound of the film makes it again distinct from his other works. I am not sure how involved Walerian was in choosing the songs for the picture, but it is hard to imagine them being more perfectly selected. I suspect that he was hands on in getting the group of extraordinary songs that he did (ironically I suspect that rights issues for some of these tracks might cause the film to continue to go unreleased on DVD here).
The two major musical moments of the film are absolutely Charles Dumont's lovely UNE FEMME, which plays in its entirety through the film's key love scene, and the daring use of Pink Floyd's majestic Syd Barrett tribute SHINE ON YOU CRAZY DIAMOND during the film's heartbreaking climax. Borowczyk brings both of these songs to the forefront during their scenes, but other songs like 10CC's LAZY WAYS and Elton John's SATURDAY NIGHT'S ALL RIGHT play slightly underneath as if they are being heard from another room (or perhaps more precisely in only one of the characters heads). Another key song is I'M NOT IN LOVE, also by 10CC. This gorgeous and innovative track has been damaged over the years by being overplayed so much, but join me if you will in revisiting this lovely piece of British pop as Walerian Borowczyk would have heard it back in 1975 when he was filming LA MARGE.

LA MARGE would be the first of many times the iconic song has been used, but perhaps only Sofia Coppola made better use of it in her VIRGIN SUICIDES than Borowczyk did here...
The visually stunning and perfectly scored film surrounds its two iconic stars with a strong supporting cast that includes some of French cinema's most amazing faces from the seventies. The lovely Mireille Audibert makes a big impression as Dallesandro's wife in the film, and the early scenes of them together are among the film's most serene moments. Noted character actors Andre Falcon, Louise Chevalier and Dominique Marcas also appear as does future David Hamilton actress Camille Lariviere.
The film belongs though to 23 year old Sylvia Kristel. In his Video Watchdog review Brad Stevens notes that she is "unbelievably good" and I agree wholeheartedly. There is a undercurrent of rage, distrust and hurt in Kristel's performance, and the near final moment when she suddenly breaks out into her native Dutch is one of the most resonate scenes in all Borowczyk's canon. The part could have been one-dimensional but Kristel delivers a stirring performance that I find quite overwhelming. This actress deserves way more credit than she has ever received.
LA MARGE has many moments that are among the most definitive of Walerian Borowczyk's career. From the filming of Dallesandro's and Kristel's feet during one of their lovemaking session, to the sad elderly maid who spends her evenings staring through couple's keyholes, to the unsettling confrontations between Kristel and her abusive John. The film is filled with moments that continue to haunt me well over a decade since I saw this very special film, a work that is almost completely unknown among film fans.

LA MARGE opened to mostly poor reviews in France in the late summer of 1976. The baffled producers attempted to see the film on Kristel's reputation as Emmanuelle, and in some regions it was actually re-titled EMMANUELLE '77. The film would fail nearly everywhere, and for its brief UK and US release it was re-titled, recut and reshaped into THE STREETWALKER. I have unfortunately never seen this version but have been told it features some alternate footage, making it a valuable if flawed companion to LA MARGE. I hope to add this version to my collection one day.
The film has been released in Japan and France on DVD but otherwise it remains out of print. The use of acts like Pink Floyd and Elton John will probably make it most expensive for the Region 1 market, but one can hope that one day some enterprising small company will release it.

For more information on one of the great undervauled directors in screen history please visit the essential Mondo Erotico.

Issue "32 of Video Watchdog is unfortunately sold out at their site but check Ebay as copies might occasionally pop up.

Those interested in the career of Joe Dallesandro should check his official site and his MySpace page.

A Sylvia Kristel page can be found here.

The English translation of Sylvia's memoirs can be purchased here. I will be posting a full review of this book here at Moon In The Gutter soon.

Recently, frustrated by the lack of attention given to her, I set up the following photo tribute to the great Dutch actress here
I invite anyone interested to stop by and give some love to this undervalued cinematic icon.

PJ Harvey's White Chalk

I recently picked up the new album from PJ Harvey and it is absolutely extraordinary. The British born Harvey has been one of my favorite artists since I first heard RID OF ME just after it came out in the early nineties, and her new album WHITE CHALK is among her finest work.
Harvey's music has mostly been guitar based since her first collection DRY, but the new record is largely piano based, and it adds yet another dimension to an already audacious and important talent.
WHITE CHALK is incredibly compelling, hypnotic and very moving during its eleven song running time. Harvey's abilities are often undervalued, but her work here again proves that she is among the most striking artists of the past two decades.
The sparse album is almost a one woman show but helping out are some of Harvey's usual players, including John Parish, Eric Drew Feldman and Jim White.
One thing that I continue to love about Harvey is that she still remembers the idea of the 'ten or eleven song, forty minute running time' album. She doesn't pad her stuff out, unlike most of today's artist, and her albums always so sound so concise and necessary. WHITE CHALK is no different, and her peers should take note that it isn't necessary to cram every second possible on the disc.
WHITE CHALK is, not surprisingly, selling poorly. In a modern music world filled with some of the most atrociously boring bands and singers possible, as artist like Harvey should be celebrated. WHITE CHALK is a lovely, heartfelt album that is already sounding like a modern classic to my ears. Give it a listen.

On a final note, I would like to say that I went out and bought this album in a store. I didn't download it (illegally or legally). I went out in a rather cold rain, walked in a store and bought a copy of the actual album. Driving home listening to it with the rain hitting against my window, I realized I would remember the trip and the first time I heard it. For a lot of people that might not be valuable, but the fact that I can hold a physical copy and still have it in case my computer crashes is reassuring. It feels real, and Polly Jean Harvey is among the most real artists we have. I can't imagine having her new album any other way...

POSTSCRIPT: Tim Lucas has posted a wonderful review of the album over at his Video Watchblog. I really enjoy reading Tim's music postings, and find them always evocative and enlightening. This one is no different, check it out.

Robby's Super Cool Super-8 Site

For those who haven't seen it, everyone should check out a German site called Robby's Super-8 Homepage. It's a blast, and it features hundreds of covers (and back-cover scans) to old Super 8 films from the fifties to the eighties. Much of the artwork is quite rare and very striking, and you can find everything from Disney films to works by Joe D'Amato.
Coming across this site reminded me of some of the old Super-8's we had when I was growing up and it made me quite nostalgic. If I stumble across an old view master reel site I might break down completely.
The link is above and pictured are two favorites I have found so far...

Shooting Kinski #13 (David M. Walsh)

While many critics had problems with the film UNFAITHFULLY YOURS (1984) few had issues with the work of cinematographer David M. Walsh. In fact, some went out of their way to mention the fine job he did on the film, specifically the great location shots of New York City.
Walsh got his first professional break as a young man in the fifties, when he was hired on as an assistant camera at Walt Disney Studios. After a decade or so of learning the ins and outs of behind the camera activity on Disney TV productions, Walsh graduated to feature films in the mid sixties as a camera operator, with an early assignment being the great James Coburn political satire THE PRESIDENT'S ANALYST (1967).
After a few years as a camera operator, Walsh finally got his first cinematography assignment with the Lee Marvin western MONTE WALSH (1970). His first great film came just later that year when he did some splendid and evocative work on John Frankenheimer's vastly underrated WALK THE LINE.
Walsh would work steadily throughout the seventies with his most notable films being Woody Allen's EVERYTHING YOU'VE ALWAYS WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT SEX (1972) and SLEEPER (1973), he would also shoot several films for Arthur Hiller and Herbert Ross including Hiller's SILVER STREAK (1976) and Ross' THE GOODBYE GIRL (1977).
Walsh excelled in urban settings using a lot of natural light photography, and any of the films he shot that involved street scenes of any kind greatly benefit the from the bright and naturalistic look generated from his lens. This is especially notable on the delightful Goldie Hawn-Chevy Chase production FOUL PLAY (1978) for director Colin Higgens where Walsh's great shooting of the streets of San Francisco and the surrounding community made the charming film all the more memorable.
It is Walsh's great eye for the streets that makes the shooting of UNFAITHFULLY YOURS something special. This film is one of the most perfect snapshots of the Manhattan streets ever caught on film, although it is rarely noted as such. Walsh and director Howard Zieff stage many of UNFAITHFULLY YOURS most memorable and humorous moments directly on the streets of New York and it is really sublime to watch.
Seeing Kinski on location in New York in this film is particularly special and Walsh really captures the warmth she was projecting so strongly in the period. It is also wonderful to watch all of the location work with Dudley Moore and Albert Brooks, as some of their best work together happens while they are out walking through the busy city sidewalks.
Walsh's photography of the film within the film that Nastassja is in is really special as well, as he is able to capture the glossy look of several of her seventies productions, especially the Richard Suzuki shot BOARDING SCHOOL.
Unfortunately Walsh hasn't been used well since UNFAITHFULLY YOURS, as most of his films since have been just a shadow compared to his greatest work in the seventies. I would blame this more on the decreasing quality of mainstream American movies being made rather than on Walsh himself.
David M. Walsh isn't a name most film fans would know but for two decades he delivered consistently solid work as an American cinematographer. With UNFAITHFULLY YOURS he got to shoot Manhattan before Rudy Giuliani's makeover and 9-11, and he got to photograph Nastassja Kinski during one of her most beautiful periods...a city and actress have rarely looked better together.

Cinema's Great Faces: Joe Dallesandro

"Little" Joe Dallesandro was born nearly sixty years ago at the tail end of 1948 in Pensacola, Florida. To go along with my upcoming celebration of LA MARGE, I thought would post a little tribute to the career of one of the great faces in film history, and one of the eternally coolest guys on the planet.
Discovered by Andy Warhol and Paul Morrissey at the age of eighteen, the impossibly beautiful Dallesandro made a few appearances in a handful of Warhol's underground films before exploding into the public eye with his astonishing turn in 1968's FLESH.
Paul Morrissey's FLESH tells the tale of Joe, a street hustler, through a series of striking improvisational scenes that are among the most real and alive sequences from the American cinema in the sixties. Working alongside Geraldine Smith, Patti D'Arbanville, Candy Darling and Jackie Curtis among others, Joe oozed charisma and a cool unhinged sexuality the likes of which had rarely been seen (before of since) in American film. Comparisons to a young Brando soon came pouring in and these would continue through Joe's next three films with Morrissey and Warhol, 1968's LONESOME COWBOYS, 1970's TRASH and 1972's HEAT.
TRASH is particularly brilliant, and it became a rare underground sensation that proved successful with some hip open minded mainstream audiences. Joe was everywhere in this period, from film festival appearances to modeling sessions, and he seemed to be the one Warhol star since Edie Sedgwick who had a legitimate shot at breaking into mainstream Hollywood.

Coinciding with the release of HEAT was Lou Reed's stunning WALK ON THE WILD SIDE single, which name checked Joe and made him even more of underground icon. Interviewed years later about Reed's song, a still slightly perplexed Joe said simply, "Great song".

1973 brought a sudden change for Joe as he travelled with Morrissey and crew to Italy to film two stunning back to back films that remain among the very best of his work. Working with Morrissey and important Italian director Antonio Margheriti, 1973's FLESH FOR FRANKENSTEIN and 1974's BLOOD FOR DRACULA are among the most audacious and original films of the seventies. With striking set designs, eye popping color and a cast including Udo Keir and Dalila Di Lazzaro, the shot in 3-D FLESH FOR FRANKENSTEIN is still jaw dropping and Joe's lovably out of place thick American accent is one of its key charms. BLOOD FOR DRACULA was perhaps even better, but both films remain two of the most endlessly inventive of the period.
Joe would meet a stunningly beautiful young Italian actress on the set of BLOOD FOR DRACULA who would go onto play an important part of his life through the mid seventies, namely talented Stefania Casini. The two would soon become one of the most beautiful couples of the period, and BLOOD FOR DRACULA would turn out to be not the only time they would work together.

A combination of things, including the striking Casini, caused Dallesandro to stay on in Europe after the Morrissey and the BLOOD FOR DRACULA crew headed back for the states. Whatever the reason, the decision probably helped cost Joe the shining star that was waiting for him back in Hollywood, but it was for the best as the film career he paved for himself in Europe in the seventies became one of the most notable of the period.
A handful of Italian films followed in the couple of years after BLOOD FOR DRACULA (including THE CLIMBER with Casini which I posted previously on here) before Joe landed one of his greatest roles, in Louis Malle's surreal BLACK MOON (1975).
Joe's role in the hypnotic BLACK MOON was a supporting one, but working with Malle placed him in the center of the European Art film world. Soon directors ranging from Walerian Borowczyk to Jacques Rivette were expressing interest with the last of the great Warhol stars, and his career took another unexpected turn.
Joe would make a flurry of films in 1975 including the very odd but effective THE GARDNER (SEEDS OF EVIL) and the crime thriller SEASON OF ASSASSINS, but it was the following year that would prove to be his most important as an actor.
Serge Gainsbourg's JE T'AIME MOI NON PLUS (1976) is one of the key French films of the seventies and it gave Joe the role that he still counts as his favorite. Working opposite the amazing Jane Birkin and a young Gerard Depardieu, Joe turns in a very solid performance as the tough truck driving Krassky. Gainsbourg's stirring film is one that is long overdue for a quality Region 1 DVD release.
Even better, in my eyes, was Joe's next film, LA MARGE (1976). Working with famed Polish director Walerian Borowczyk and the major French star of the period, Sylvia Kristel, LA MARGE gave Joe the most emotionally demanding role of his career. As the recently widowed Sigimond who finds a strange solace in a lonely prostitute in Paris, Joe delivered excellent work for the demanding Borowczyk and it remains my favorite film of not only Joe's but also of his leading lady and director.
More European films followed in the next few years, including the crazed KILLER NUN (1978) and an early Catherine Breillat film NOCTURNAL UPROAR (1979), but it was 1980's intense Fernando Di Leo film VACANZE PER UN MASS that truly gave Joe a role he could sink his teeth into again.
After the great Di Leo film, Joe finally found his way to Jacques Rivette and, along with LAST TANGO IN PARIS star Maria Schneider, they delivered 1981's MERRY-GO-ROUND. The film unfortunately hit financial problems and was shelved for nearly two years before finally just receiving a limited French release.
The infamous and little seen QUEEN LEAR appeared in 1982 and would mark an end to Joe's time in Europe. He finally returned to the states with a part in Francis Ford Coppola's THE COTTON CLUB (1984). He took some time off after that and returned a few years later with a string of television work including memorable turns in MIAMI VICE and WISEGUY.
The past two decades have seen Joe develop into a solid character actor and he has appeared in films ranging from John Water's great CRY-BABY (1990) to Steven Soderbergh's already legendary THE LIMEY (1999). Joe's role in THE LIMEY is at this point his last notable one as he has worked only sporadically since. He is great in the film though, as a simple minded hit man, and his thoughts on one of the film's wonderful commentaries are essential for his fans (and fans of underground cinema in general).

Joe Dallesandro probably could have become a major Hollywood player in the seventies and eighties as he certainly had the looks and charisma. I am glad though that he made the descions that he did because his work for director's like Morrissey, Malle, Gainsbourg, Borowczyk and Rivette are the ones that I love him the most for. While many people just know him as the "Little Joe" from Lou Reed's TRANSFORMER centerpiece or as the face of Andy Warhol's factory, Joe Dallesandro is so much more. Hopefully one day some of his European output will become more readily available, and he will finally get some of the credit that is owed to him.

Joe has a comprehensive official site that is located here, that is well worth visiting.

For some of the best available Joe film's on DVD check Tony's fantastic Xploited cinema at this link.

My look at LA MARGE will be posted later in the week.

Critical Reactions #10 (Unfaithfully Yours)

Nastassja followed up her most controversial film, THE MOON IN THE GUTTER, with one of her most low keyed and charming. 1984's UNFAITHFULLY YOURS, despite being a very funny and sweet film, suffered from the same thing that had plagued CAT PEOPLE. Namely that as a remake it wasn't viewed on its own terms, and was only compared (mostly negatively) to the classic Preston Sturgis original.
I like the remake of UNFAITHFULLY YOURS very much, and think it is one of the brightest comedies of the mid eighties. Unfortunately critical reaction was mixed at best. Here is a sampling of some of the reviews.


"The remake of UNFAITHFULLY YOURS is just a shadow of its source, using the basic plot and characters, but diluting Sturgis' ideas...Dudley Moore gives a nice low key performance...Kinski is appropriately elegant."
-David Sterritt, Christian Science Monitor-

"a cleverly written, very derivative concoction...the romantic pairing of Moore and Kinski doesn't generate a chemical reaction...these generally minor criticisms should not deny the true comic expertise exhibited here..."
-John Nangle, Films In Review-

"opens with charm and confidence...sad to say, the charm runs out long before the film does...Moore's puckishness makes him seem much younger, Kinski's sophistication lets her seem any age...the picture's photography is exceptional."
-Sheila Benson, Los Angeles Times-

"Successful...commercially astute...a product of considerable merit and distinction."
-Nick Roddick, Monthly Film Bulletin-

"Kinski is entirely out of her element in this trifle. Called upon to act fey and breathless, she seems merely strained. It is difficult to tell whether she is too intense a personality-or untalented an actress-to act against her grain...her screen presence is heavy and less dexterous."
-Daphne Merkin, New Leader-

"Hollywood (has) forgotten how to make comedies..."
-John Coleman, New Statesman-

"isn't all that bad, but it's a depressing experience for those of us who love the original...the new film is a sweet, ingratiating, conventional romantic comedy...Kinski's bouncy, volatile, even funny...we feel for her."
-David Denby, New York-

"exceedingly funny...piles talent on talent on talent...give yourself a treat with UNFAITHFULLY YOURS."
-Archer Winston, New York Post-

"Kinski is vacuous...Funny? Yes and no."
-Joseph Gelmis, Newsday-

"Kinski reveals the comic bubble between her solemn sultriness...a full head of comic steam...a good chuckle is not to be scorned in any era."
-David Ansen, Newsweek-

"Amiable but half-baked remake of what was anyway one of Preston Sturges' least satisfactory comedies. Moore plays the old Rex Harrison role of the egocentric conductor convinced his beloved (Kinski at her most coquettish) has been cheating on him with the devilishly good-looking lead violinist. The mood here is far less menacing or unsettling than in the original. Instead of the sleek and murderous elegance of Harrison, we have to put up with cuddly Dudley's gooey, Arthur-like grimaces. He's trying so hard to ingratiate himself that it's impossible to believe he could ever really entertain the idea of killing Kinski."
-Time Out Film Guide-

"scores a clean win over nostalgics sentiment for the old master's original...consistently inventive staging and better dialogue (than the original)...Kinski too is back within her best range, cheerfully sexy instead of glumly sultry."
-Richard Schickel, Time-

Vadim's Blood And Roses At Cinebeats

Kimberly at Cinebeats has written an extraordinary review of a truly great undervalued film, Roger Vadim's masterful 1960 chiller BLOOD AND ROSES.
Kimberly and I share an admiration for Vadim, and it is wonderful to read such a thoughtful and well written tribute to one of his key works.
BLOOD AND ROSES, possibly the best film of Vadim's career, is still unavailable on DVD which is really unfortunate. I highly recommend Cinebeats's fine look at this film, and hopefully one day it will find its way back onto the home video market.

Louis Malle On TCM

Turner Classic Movies is celebrating what would have been Louis Malle's 75th birthday tomorrow and Wednesday with a festival of ten films, including their premiere of BLACK MOON. Three of the films, including BLACK MOON, are not available on DVD here in the States so TCM'S showing of them is most appreciated.
The other two titles missing on DVD are Malle's 1960 comedy ZAZIE IN THE SUBWAY, and 1963's THE FIRE WITHIN. The other films showing are ELEVATOR TO THE GALLOWS (1960), MURMUR OF THE HEART (1971), GOODBYE, CHILDREN (1987), LACOMBE LUCIEN (1974) and three of his documentaries.
TCM has a nice article on Malle located here.
Outside of looking forward to the widescreen showing of BLACK MOON, I am excited about the prospect of catching up with some more of Malle's work, as he has been a director that I have seen relatively little by.

Nastassja On Ebay #5

Here are a couple of more charming German clippings that recently featured on Ebay. I apologize for the small scans but the rareness of the photos seemed to warrant posting.

A Flawed Lady Chatterley Gets Some Love

I am continually floored by some of the inventive montages people put together for YouTube. A friend recently shared this one with me, and it is one of the most effective I have seen in a while. It is a group of well chosen clips from the underrated Sylvia Kristel/Just Jaeckin collaboration LADY CHATTERLEY'S LOVER set to a lovely song called BREATHE ME by Sia.
In her autobiography, Sylvia Kristel calls this the last important film she ever made, and watching these clips is a reminder of how visually striking this flawed but well meaning film is.
Since Sylvia Kristel is going to be coming up here a lot this week, I thought this seemed like a perfect place to start.

Overlooked Classics: Dick (1999)

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