IN RESPONSE TO MY ILSA*'S POSTING OF HER POEM IN SPANISH, I too am posting a poem of my own. In French not Spanish. And she wrote hers but I didn't write this. Baudelaire did. I don't write anymore. My kinda guy, this Baudelaire. He was, after all, a Poe booster. From his "Fleurs de mal" or "Flowers of Evil":

• "Quand le ciel bas et lourd pèse comme un couvercle
• Sur l'esprit gémissant en proie aux longs ennuis,
• Et que de l'horizon embrassant tout le cercle
• II nous verse un jour noir plus triste que les nuits;
• Quand la terre est changée en un cachot humide,
• Où l'Espérance, comme une chauve-souris,
• S'en va battant les murs de son aile timide
• Et se cognant la tête à des plafonds pourris;
• Quand la pluie étalant ses immenses traînées
• D'une vaste prison imite les barreaux,
• Et qu'un peuple muet d'infâmes araignées
• Vient tendre ses filets au fond de nos cerveaux,
• Des cloches tout à coup sautent avec furie
• Et lancent vers le ciel un affreux hurlement,
• Ainsi que des esprits errants et sans patrie
• Qui se mettent à geindre opiniâtrement.
• — Et de longs corbillards, sans tambours ni musique,
• Défilent lentement dans mon âme; l'Espoir,
• Vaincu, pleure, et l'Angoisse atroce, despotique,
• Sur mon crâne incliné plante son drapeau noir."

Want some help? Probably my favourite translation is from 1936 by my good bud Edna St. Vincent Millay:

• "When the low, heavy sky weighs like the giant lid
• Of a great pot upon the spirit crushed by care,
• And from the whole horizon encircling us is shed
• A day blacker than night, and thicker with despair;
• When Earth becomes a dungeon, where the timid bat
• Called Confidence, against the damp and slippery walls
• Goes beating his blind wings, goes feebly bumping at
• The rotted, moldy ceiling, and the plaster falls;
• When, dark and dropping straight, the long lines of the rain
• Like prison-bars outside the window cage us in;
• And silently, about the caught and helpless brain,
• We feel the spider walk, and test the web, and spin;
• Then all the bells at once ring out in furious clang,
• Bombarding heaven with howling, horrible to hear,
• Like lost and wandering souls, that whine in shrill harangue
• Their obstinate complaints to an unlistening ear.
• — And a long line of hearses, with neither dirge nor drums,
• Begins to cross my soul. Weeping, with steps that lag,
• Hope walks in chains; and Anguish, after long wars, becomes
• Tyrant at last, and plants on me his inky flag."

FIRST EYE CANDY OF THE YEAR. Again, I've been remiss with the eye candy -- haven't had any since December. So, in honour of my receipt of the double DVD of "the highest Bollywood box office grosser ever" (as it says on the cover) this time I'm choosing the star of OM SHANTI OM: the delightful Deepika Padukone.

Deepika was a model turned actress as well as being chosen as the "face of Maybelline". And I can see why. Please enjoy these photos of the jewel of the Indian subcontinent!

Sigh.

NEVER LIKED WESTERNS. It's only in recent years that I've changed my tune about them and have caught up with quite a few excellent ones. A large enough number, in fact, to make me something of a fan. Some I have a particular fondness for are those strange westerns directed by Anthony Mann and starring Jimmy Stewart. Now believe it or don't but Stewart worked with Mann more than any other director and half of those movies were westerns. The latest one to scrape across my corneas was THE NAKED SPUR and it's one of the best. Mann has his own little niche in the genre and his westerns don't feel like anybody elses. I had previously known the director for his two films noir: the excellent T-MEN and the even better RAW DEAL. And he brings something of this film noir attitude to these westerns, too.

The supposed hero of this film (as well as THE FAR COUNTRY and BEND OF THE RIVER) is expected to be Jimmy Stewart, of course. However, he is never really the true blue cowboy but instead is depicted usually as having a rather shady past and some serious character flaws. In all these films, the good guys aren't totally good and the bad guys aren't totally bad. You never really know from one scene to the next where you stand with many of the characters. In BEND OF THE RIVER, Jimmy Stewart's old friend Arthur Kennedy turns on him while shady gambler Rock Hudson eventually proves a reliable ally. And lovely leading lady Julie Adams appears set up for a romance with Jimmy Stewart but, after taking an arrow in the shoulder and convalescing away from him for a month, she is engaged to marry Arthur Kennedy. (SIDEBAR: It is interesting to note that the two actresses in BEND OF THE RIVER, Julie Adams and Lori Nelson, were the leading ladies in two separate CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON movies).

In THE NAKED SPUR, too, Jimmy Stewart is a rather dark and bitter character who also proves to be quite often ineffectual. Stewart went off to the Civil War and turned the deed to his property over to his fiancee so she could legally tend to it while he was away. When Stewart returns after the war, he finds his fiancee has sold his property and run off with another man. Now, in order to get money to buy back his land, Stewart has turned bounty hunter and is trailing outlaw Robert Ryan across Colorado. Before too many sprockets have spun through the gate after the opening credits, Stewart comes across a grizzled old prospector (played by an actor previously unknown to me -- Millard Mitchell -- in a role tailor made seemingly for Edmund O'Brien) and gives him $20 to help him corral the outlaw. Before too much longer, a wandering, dishonourably discharged soldier (played by Ralph Meeker who will always be known to me as the robotically violent Mike Hammer in KISS ME DEADLY) comes by and, presumably out of boredom, aids Stewart as well. Tagging along with Robert Ryan is not-quite-girlfriend Janet Leigh. Ryan is captured and it is revealed that Stewart has been keeping the fact of a $5000 reward from his partners. The five suspicious and rather venal characters then begin a long, tense trek across the wilderness to bring Ryan in for the reward. . .all the while giving Ryan an opportunity to foment discord amongst them all. Quite a bit of distrust bubbles up between Stewart and his circumstantial partners Mitchell and Meeker -- and Leigh swings back and forth between loyalty to Ryan (a friend of her father's) and her growing attraction to Stewart. All the while, a giggling Ryan plants seeds of doubt and suspicion into all of their brains one by one. Oh, and in case you're wondering there IS a noteworthy scene involving a spur. In typical Anthony Mann "sudden violence" style, someone takes a spur to the neck. Ouch!

As in all these Anthony Mann/James Stewart westerns, the technicolor photography just pops and the real locations (here featuring the Rocky Mountains) are beautiful. The cast, as you can see, is really superb. A bright blue sky hangs over all these Anthony Mann westerns; perhaps in sharp contrast to the muddy personalities of his characters. The action too is unlike most run-of-the-mill westerns in that Mann focuses on character conflict rather than endless shootem-ups. There are fist fights and gunplay in THE NAKED SPUR but they arise naturally from the situation. And the ending of the film reveals quite an ugly side to James Stewart's character. Well, having seen these three Mann westerns (as well as the non-Stewart Mann directed THE TIN STAR with Henry Fonda and Anthony Perkins), I'm quite eager to get a look at THE MAN FROM LARAMIE, WINCHESTER '73, (both also starring Stewart) as well as the intriguing-looking THE FURIES with Barbara Stanwyck and MAN OF THE WEST with Gary Cooper.

HOME PRICES DROP MOST IN 28 YEARS. That's what it said on my AOL welcome screen today. So, I don't usually acknowledge anything that's happening in the "real" world because I don't really like the "real" world and ignore it as much as possible. However, this constant "SURPRISE" at the housing market going belly up just makes me laugh and I had to say something about it.

For those of you who have known me for quite a long time, I have been saying for the last 15 years that the housing market is going to go through the floor. And now that it is, everybody's acting surprised. Why? Don't nobody listen ter me?!?!?!?!!!! As I've been saying lo these past 15 years (and I have documentation and witnesses to prove it, Geraldo): all the baby boomers in decades past had the brilliant idea of buying a home as an investment for their retirement. When they retire, they can sell the house which (theoretically) will be worth a lot more than they paid for it back in 1977 and they will use that money to fund their retirement. Sounds like a pretty good idea, right. Except for the one or two FATAL flaws that I've been pointing out for almost 2 decades.

• There are a LOT more "baby boomers" (born between World War II and 1963) than there are of the generation after them (that would be yours truly). Yeah, there are a LOT less of us. Which means all the baby boomers are going to try to sell their houses around the same time: when they reach retirement age. And there aren't enough of US to buy all of THEIR houses. Which means the prices of houses will fall and fall and fall. And the baby boomers will be outta luck. And those of us who never could afford a house of our own because the baby boomer generation has messed up this country SOOOOOOOO badly will now be able to pick and choose which overpriced (but now dirt cheap) house we want.

Of course, this doesn't take into account the fact that we STILL won't be able to afford the outrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrageous taxes. (SIDEBAR: Hey England, sometimes it seems like "taxation without representation" might just have been CHEAPER!!!). But I digress (as usual).

It's exactly the same thing that comic book collectors will remember happened to the speculation market in comic books in the mid-90's (an event that I also predicted, thanks a lot). Everybody and their mothers bought up every first issue and special foil cover of every comic book and stuck 'em in a vault hoping to make a bundle by selling them later for a HUUUUUUUGE profit. Naturally, everybody and their mother ALSO decided to sell them all at once. Result: comic book speculation market crashed and comic books that once were worth literally THOUSANDS are now worth approximately 25 cents. Just change the word "comic books" to the word "houses" and you've got the same outcome.

So what's all this hoohah about people acting surprised that the housing market has begun it's inevitable slide out of which houses will NEVER reach such high prices again. The dolts! That's right, I used the word "DOLTS" on my blog. And it felt GOOOOOOOOOOD!!!

SHUT UP, LITTLE MAN! I have just experienced something which I'm at a loss to wrap my mind around. Peter and Raymond. These two guys are on a little cd called "SHUT UP, LITTLE MAN!" and they never even knew it. OK, let me start at the beginning. Two guys named Eddie Lee and Mitchell moved into a rundown, bright pink apartment building in the Lower Haight district of San Francisco. They called it the Pepto Bismol Palace. Anyway, soon after moving in they began hearing their two neighbours Peter Haskett and Raymond Huffman through the paper-thin walls. Peter and Raymond were on the far side of middle-age -- they were raging alcoholics -- and they were often violent. The two men had almost constant screaming matches periodically punctuated by fist fights. At first Eddie Lee and Mitchell were kinda spooked and freaked out but they soon began tape recording the fights through the paper-thin apartment walls. They then passed out the tapes amongst their friends. Eventually, the editor of San Francisco's Bananafish magazine contacted the two men after getting ahold of their Peter and Raymond tapes. In 1993, they were released commercially as a "Best Of" cd called "SHUT UP, LITTLE MAN!": derived from the constant insult Peter would yell at Raymond. The cd has developed a cult following and I just got ahold of one today. There has since been something like 7 volumes of Peter and Raymond cds released. Raymond Huffman died in 1992 and Peter Haskett died in 1996. But their chaos marches on. This cd is oddly compelling, laugh-out-loud funny and mildly disturbing -- all at the same time!!! Especially because all you are hearing is absolutely real while the two drunks are unaware they are being taped. Here is a sampling of some of the quintessential track titles: "If You Wanna Talk To Me Then Shut Your F****n' Mouth", "I Despise All Queers", "Go To Bed: Fist Fight I", "Someday I Will Kill You", "You Always Giggle Falsely", "We'll Set Your Hair On Fire", "This Time I Attack" and "You Wanna Stick Me With That Fork?" Seriously, these recordings have to be heard to be believed -- and you probably STILL won't believe it -- they're jawdropping and addictive! And yes, believe it or don't, in 2002 there was even an independent film made of Peter and Raymond called "SHUT YER DIRTY LITTLE MOUTH!". And if Fink would get off the stick and stop being coy and show me how to post audio on this blog, I would put up a sample so you could hear it. You listening, Finky boy?!?!?!?!?

HOLD EVERYTHING!!!! SHUT UP, LITTLE MAN! UPDATE!!!!! OK, it just gets better and better! First of all there apparently is a SHUT UP, LITTLE MAN website and here it is click here!

And besides that there's a little something I neglected to mention before. Several times during the recordings, there is a third guy named "Tony" who sometimes appears. Well, apparently Tony was some vagrant who was also Peter's lover -- this would probably account for Raymond's endless "anti-gay" tirades. Well, according to wikipedia -- and this just gives the whole mess an even more bizarre angle -- "Raymond Huffman died in 1992 , he was repeatedly kicked by Tony while lying in bed, and soon died from the trauma. Peter died in 1996 of liver problems due to years of excessive drinking. Tony was placed into a mental institution and his current whereabouts are unknown". Feel free to say "Holy shit" at this point. Well, even though Tony is NEVER heard yelling or objecting to anything during the fights between Raymond and Peter, apparently one day he finally had enough of the "gay baiting" and went bananas. Kinda gives the whole SHUT UP, LITTLE MAN! scenario even MORE of the fascination of a car wreck, doesn't it?????

THE FIVE SONGS: THE EIGHTH INSTANCE. It's been a while. This time around it's black songs -- since that is usually my mood. Black. Now the topic of these songs isn't really the colour -- it's all about blackness. And I thought what would be a more appropriate way to start of this particular topic than to choose as my first black song:

1. BLACK EYED DOG by NICK DRAKE. We all know (or SHOULD if we're reading this blog) that ole Nick suffered greatly from depression. This is his song about depression: the black-eyed dog following him around constantly. Poor ole Nick had a crush on Francoise Hardy. Poor ole Nick produced three superb albums that sold nothing in his lifetime. Poor ole Nick struggled long and hard with depression. Poor ole Nick took too many pills and died. "A black eyed dog he knew my name/a black eyed dog he knew my name".

2. PAINT IT BLACK by THE ROLLING STONES. One of my favourite Stones songs. Not my favourite but it's up there. The ultimate denial of the hippy 60's sunshine and flower power schtick. "I see the girls walk by dressed in their summer clothes/I have to turn my head until my darkness goes". My sentiments exactly.

3. FADE TO BLACK by METALLICA. OK there seems to be a pattern here. Like every teenager worth his salt (and especially teenage metal fans), there's nothing I like better than a good suicidal song. "Things are not what they used to be..." And for those who don't really know me that well, you must be thinking I'm sending up some red flags with these song selections. Well, cool your jets. "Yesterday seems as though it never existed/Death greets me warm/now I will just say goodbye". But as those of you who know me REAL well already know, there's nothing to fear. I'm not gonna drink lye. I'm in love with death. . . .but that doesn't mean I want to MARRY her!

4. BLACK by PEARL JAM. "I know someday you'll have a beautiful life/I know you will be a star in somebody else's sky/but why/why/WHY/can't it be mine." This is my favourite song. Those who know me very well will already know that. It's been my favourite song since the year 1992. Which will also disprove those of you who think you know WHY it is my favourite song.

5. DRY YOUR EYES by THE STREETS. This has quickly become one of my new favourite songs lately. And yes, while it does demonstrate a blackness of mood it also peeks in with a little righteous indignation (very cleansing) as well as a small dab of that thing that some people refer to as hope. And as we all ALSO know, there has never been anything as cruel and brutal inflicted upon humankind than that insidious thing called "Hope". Basically, he loves her. She doesn't love him anymore. He's desperately trying to keep the relationship and she just doesn't wanna know. Then his friend tries to get him to let go and literally tells him "there's plenty more fish in the sea". And for the record, those of you who thought you knew why Pearl Jam's "BLACK" is my favourite song but were wrong, you would be RIGHT concerning why I like THIS song. "Dry your eyes, mate/I know you want to make her see how much this pain hurts/but you've got to walk away now/it's over".

So, there you have it. Because none of you slackers have come up with any interesting topics for The Five Songs (or any topics at all), I have inflicted this one upon you all. Gnash your teeth in despair, mortals because the next five songs could be EVEN MORE HORRIFYING!!!! Who knows, I might get even MORE negative.

"AN EXTRAORDINARY PIECE OF CINEMA." That's what Weaverman called it over at his blog FLEAPIT OF THE MIND. That's what a great many people have called it in whichever words they chose to convey that opinion. L'ECLISSE is indeed a revolutionary, groundbreaking film for 1962 and still today. Michelangelo Antonioni's films have a tendency to be that. I wrote about L'AVVENTURA (the first film in a loose trilogy that continues with LA NOTTE and finishes up with L'ECLISSE) before on this blog but I've been famously having trouble finding the words to talk about this one. That trouble hasn't really gone away but I will attempt to give a smattering of impressions about what has become one of my favourite films.

If L'ECLISSE is one thing it's pure film. Pure cinema. I've never seen a film that was more "pure film". Every shot is perfect; and more than that, every shot feels like the only possible shot. Whereas most movies focus on an involved plot and give us cardboard characters -- or focus very strongly on the characters without paying much attention to the background or setting of the movie -- L'ECLISSE seems to me to give equal weight to every single element on the screen. What is happening to the characters is exactly as important as their characterizations which in turn is exactly as important as the surrounding setting or objects on screen. In fact, people are almost interchangeable with objects and settings; quite often in the film an actor will leave the frame and we are left looking at some object still in the frame which seems just as interesting as the actors.

And about the actors. Antonioni's muse Monica Vitti is back for the third time and I can't really imagine anyone else playing her part in L'ECLISSE. There's something about Vitti's face which conveys so much; she is always thinking, feeling, conveying so much sometimes without any dialogue at all. Monica Vitti's face is, in fact, a feast that rewards so much with repeated viewings. She really is quite extraordinary. She doesn't seem to be acting at all while at the same time providing a stunning acting performance. You never see the artifice of acting; just the truth of it. And the great French actor Alain Delon is also remarkable. Antonioni famously tried to get his actors to "stop acting"; in other words, he didn't want the fake put-on acting but wanted his actors to really exist and feel in the part truthfully. Delon is a great naturalistic actor and is allowed to do that in some scenes: especially the two stock exchange tableaux which figure so prominently in the picture. However, at other times, as it has been said, Antonioni uses him almost like a marionette (Vitti as well). Delon seems to know what Antonioni was after since he provides exactly the right performance to Vitti's "exactly right" performance. This goes for every single actor in the film; no matter how small the part. You won't catch a single person "acting" in this movie. But each person gives a performance that's "truer" than many another film can boast.

Performances are also given by objects and locations. Don't ask me how but they are. An empty picture frame in front of an abstract sculpture. The Roman stock exchange with it's ancient columns. The strange EUR building looming over the city: an architectural remnant from Mussolini's days of fascism which resembles nothing if not a mushroom cloud(!). A fossilized plant. A piece of paper which, it turns out, has flowers drawn on it. In fact, Antonioni is as much concerned with negative space as he is with foreground objects. This goes for the sound of the film as well; absolutely masterly use of sound. The film is made up of alternating passages of extreme quiet and chaotic noise. The opening credits do indeed feature a blaring 60's Italian pop song which suddenly switches in mid-credits to a haunting, discordant piano piece. This device would be used decades later in Quentin Tarantino's opening credits for PULP FICTION and, in fact, may have influenced a similar haunting, discordant bleak piano theme appearing throughout LONG DAY'S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT from the same year 1962.

As the credits end, the first shot of the film features objects: a lamp, row of books, a coffee cup, a strange white object we're not sure of but which turns out to be the shirt-sleeved arm of actor Francisco Rabal. There is very little sound except for the faint flutter of an oscillating electric fan. Fearlessly, the opening scene features no dialogue for almost 5 minutes! However, we very quickly become aware of what's happening. The obvious tension, the hurt looks, the aimlessly fiddling with objects while deep in thought: what we have here is the very end of a relationship between Vittoria (Monica Vitti) and Riccardo (Francisco Rabal). It's been said that it's almost like we've walked in to the final reel of movie which doesn't exist; we're only seeing the final breakup and frankly that's all we need. The relationship's prior history has been jettisoned so that we can see the more interesting events to come. And this is probably the most accurate and truthful depiction of the final moments of a relationship that I've ever seen. Vittoria's mind is set; she no longer wants to be in this relationship. She's constantly looking for that "emotional connection" but isn't finding it here. Riccardo typically doesn't want the relationship to end and keeps trying to prolong it. Perhaps they can give it another try. Maybe we'll call each other in a few days. Why don't we embrace one last time. Of course, it's not to be. She leaves. He follows. They part. The time is early morning; so early no one else seems to be around. The streets are deserted and there's an eerie feeling to it all. In fact, with the presence of the strange EUR tower, it's been said the beginning of the film feels like a science fiction film as if these two are the last people on earth. When we do finally see another living soul, it almost comes as a shock.

Vittoria briefly returns to her own apartment (check out this excellent use of negative space here) and goes to the Roman stock exchange to see her mother who seems addicted to the stock market. There is a distance between mother and daughter which Vittoria can't seem to overcome. In fact, one of the most important themes of the movie is the fact that we human beings find it almost impossible to "connect" with one another. Even when we are "in love" there seems to be one last, vital thing missing: that intimate connection. This is demonstrated most vividly later in the film when Vitti and Delon embrace and kiss passionately. Antonioni then gives us a shot of Vitti's face suddenly emptied of passion. The director then gives us an alternate shot of Delon's face showing exactly the same thing. The hunger for genuine emotional connection is always there. We just can't seem to quite grab it. A masterful illustration -- one among many in this film. Antonioni is also concerned with showing absence; not only the use of negative space but simply the absence of actor's from a scene. The device of placing actors in a scene and then having them leave it focuses our attention on the on where the character was. This gives the objects and locations an incredibly powerful resonance emotionally which wouldn't have been apparent to the viewer if Antonioni hadn't done it just this way.

But back to the stock exchange. Vittoria's mother (again perfectly played by Lilla Brignone) is a small investor -- and the Roman stock exchange is a rather small stock exchange and not the main one in the country. Alain Delon plays Piero, Vittoria's mother's sorta broker who represents her for his firm on the floor of the stock exchange. The Roman stock exchange is located inside an ancient Roman building with marble and columns; it is here in the city where the soundtrack gets loud and chaotic after the relative quiet of the film so far. Later that night, Vittoria returns to her apartment where she hangs out with her neighbour Anita. Here she reveals her inability to emotionally connect in a master line of dialogue: "There are times when holding a needle and thread, or a book, or a man -- it's all the same." The pair go to see another neighbour Marta who had previously lived in Kenya. It is in this scene where we really see Vittoria cut loose and smile as she manages to find her elusive emotions only when she dresses up like a Kenyan and does an impromptu spear dance. Vittoria's fun is cut short when Marta inexplicably turns sullen and says "Let's stop playing negroes". Marta reveals herself to be quite racist saying the Kenyan natives have only just recently come down out of the trees and "lost their tails". This clearly annoys Vittoria who, even after having only just met Marta, still manages one or two pointed comments to her as her racism manifests.

Vittoria's emotional distance is only broken momentarily throughout the film. The joy she obviously feels pretending to be a Kenyan native only lasts briefly but it tells something of the deadening effect that "civilisation" seems to be having on her. Vittoria experiences another moment of brief joy when Marta's poodle gets up on its hind legs and walks around her in a circle. However, that moment is typically fleeting as Vittoria hears a strange sound from a nearby construction site and becomes rivetted by a row of tall poles swaying in the breeze. Monica Vitti is forever observing and touching things in this film; another demonstration of her constant search for -- something. The next morning Anita's husband takes them on a short plane ride and it is here too -- only after she has severed her bonds to the Earth and flies high up in the clouds -- that Vittoria literally sighs with the sheer joy of it. The freedom she feels is all too evident on her face. But this too is fleeting since the plane soon lands. It is at this point, much like in the previous L'AVVENTURA, that our heroine literally disappears from the film. But only for about 20 minutes -- she will be back.

It's here that we get the Piero portion of the film as we see the Roman stock exchange once again. However, things aren't good as the stock market has a mini-crash. The frenzied activity once again contrasts the previous quiet scenes as the stock brokers go bananas. Vittoria's mother loses quite a bundle by the time Vittoria reappears at the stock exchange. Vittoria becomes fascinated by a fat man who has lost 50 million. She follows him out of curiosity just to see what he does and how he handles a thing like that. She finds out -- I'm not going to tell you. It is also here that the nascent love affair between Vittoria and Piero starts. This makes up the bulk of the remainder of the film. I'm also not going to tell you what happens with that. Nor am I going to describe the absolutely stunning ending of the film. Antonioni is known for the "endings" of his films and this one is his best: incredibly brave and ballsy for 1962 and, indeed, even for the 21st century.

These are only some of my impressions; believe me, I could write a book. The only way to really know what the movie is about and to know what I'm talking about is to watch it. And watch it repeatedly since it only gets better with repeated viewings. It's riveting. It's absorbing. It's revolutionary. It's a downright masterpiece -- but in the vital, exciting way and not in the dry, academic way. And it's quickly become one of my all-time favourite films.

IT'S WITH GREAT REGRET I HAVE TO ANNOUNCE THE DEATH THIS MORNING OF HORROR QUEEN HAZEL COURT: star of countless classic horror films with the likes of Vincent Price, Boris Karloff, Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee and many more. Perhaps most historically significant for the genre, Hazel Court was the heroine of the very first colour Hammer Horror film: THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN; which began the long reign of the movie studio that dripped blood! I was lucky enough to meet Hazel on a couple of occasions and she was also very kind and giving to her fans. The very first time I met her was at the first Monster Mania conventions. I bumped into her there -- almost literally. I was entering a doorway and she was coming out. She had not been listed as one of the convention guests so I was quite flabbergasted to recognize her. After I excused myself and stepped out of her way, it registered who she was and I stammered something lame like: "Why, you're Hazel Court!!!!!" And she smiled and said, "You're right!" I later chatted with her briefly when I got her autographed photo (and when Hammer Horror star Ingrid "Countess Dracula" Pitt wasn't constantly trying to recruit me as her personal assistant. . . . . . . . but that's another story and a LOOOOOOOOOONG one) and Hazel Court was gracious and thrilled to have so many fans. During a wonderful Q&A session, she reminisced about her career and regaled us with anecdotes concerning Vincent Price and Peter Cushing particularly. Hazel and her late husband had quite a strong connection to the Philadelphia area (of which I am in a close by suburb) and the art community there. She only just now released her autobiography and it's very sad that she is no longer here to brighten up the horror convention circuit. She'll be greatly missed by all us true horror fans.

Some of my favourite Hazel Court roles:

Ghost Ship (1952)

Devil Girl From Mars (1954)

The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) w/Peter Cushing & Christopher Lee

The Man Who Could Cheat Death (1959) with Christopher Lee

Doctor Blood's Coffin (1961) with Kieron Moore

Boris Karloff's Thriller: "Terror In Teakwood" (1961) with Guy Rolfe

The Premature Burial (1962) with Ray Milland

The Raven (1963) w/ Vincent Price, Boris Karloff, Peter Lorre & Jack Nicholson

Twilight Zone: "The Fear" (1964)

Masque of the Red Death (1964) with Vincent Price

LITTLE KNOWN "STRANGER FROM VENUS" is basically a British rehash of "THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL". In fact, it even features one of that film's stars: Patricia Neal. Helmut Dantine (who appeared unbilled as the young newlywed who is trying to get himself and his wife out of "CASABLANCA") plays "The Stranger": an alien from the planet Venus who arrives on Earth as sort of an advance-guard ambassador for his planet's impending first contact with us. The film is directed by Burt Balaban; whose only real other film of note is 1960's "MURDER, INC.".

The film opens with Susan North (Patricia Neal) driving her car at night. Her car radio experiences interferance and she then loses control and crashes her car into a tree. The camera pans from her unconscious, battered body to the feet of an approaching man who looms over her car as the opening credits roll. This, of course, is "The Stranger" from Venus. Later, police find her crashed car but there is no sign of Susan. The Stranger shows up at the inn where a bevy of great British character actors have assembled: Derek Bond ("Nicholas Nickleby"), Cyril Luckham (the evil mage Drexil in "THE OMEGA FACTOR" discussed a couple months ago in this blog here), Willoughby Gray (Hammer's 1959 "THE MUMMY"), Nigel Green (Hercules in the Ray Harryhausen spectacular "JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS" as well as countless genre outings such as "COUNTESS DRACULA", juvenile delinquency classic "BEAT GIRL", Roger Corman's Poe flick MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH", heroic Sir Nayland Smith in "FACE OF FU MANCHU", and Amicus/Robert Bloch scarefest "THE SKULL"). Hell, even John LeMesurier ("DAD'S ARMY") makes a brief appearance!

Susan eventually enters the inn and her terrible injuries from the car accident have miraculously healed. The Stranger is handy like that. As the government learns they have a visitor from Venus in their midst, they cordon off the entire town so no one can get in or out. The Stranger is revealed to have rather strange, inhuman fingerprints as well as having reconditioned his respiratory system to exist in the Earth's atmosphere. Temporarily. If he does not return to Venus when his flying saucers buddies get here, he will die. Much like Michael Rennie's Klaatu in "THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL", The Stranger offers the Earthlings certain technological innovations but warns them that messing around with atomic bombs can play havoc with Earth's neighbours -- and they're not gonna stand for it. Of course, the government powers that be manage to steal The Stranger's Venusian communication device so he cannot contact his mother ship and prepare a secret ambush for the landing saucer (high-powered magnets to ground the Venusians when they land) in order to steal the high tech gadgets of the Venusians. The Stranger (with the help of his new human friends) recapture the communicator just as the saucer is attempting to land and warns the Venusians off -- thus stranding himself on Earth to certain death. The Stranger then goes off, sits under a tree and fades away (that's how Venusians die, in case you didn't know).

"STRANGER FROM VENUS" is a very minor 50's science fiction flick with a very modest budget, an abundance of great British acting talent and not much action. The film is EXTREMELY talking and pretty much the only action in it consists of Patricia Neal's car plowing into a tree, The Stranger chasing after a car on foot and the landing and skedaddling of the Venusian saucer. The film also seems to alternate "science fiction" dialogue scenes with violin-laden romantic encounters between Patricia Neal and Helmut Dantine. It almost becomes comical when you can accurately predict a mushy romance scene is coming because you've just finished with a talky plot-related one. "STRANGER FROM VENUS" isn't really a bad film; it's just not got nearly enough budget to do anything with. If you're a completist for all 50's science fiction films then seeking out a copy won't break the bank. However, I can't really urge anyone to run out and find this film. Just pop in your copy of "THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL" instead.