Wild, Wild Podcast Season 8: Ep 1 - LSD - FLESH OF THE DEVIL (1967)

Turn on, tune in and drop out with Adrian and I as we enter the wild, wild world of 1960s psychedelics. In this episode we take a trip with secret super-agent Rex Miller as he infiltrates the evil international crime organization E.C.H.O. (just don't ask anyone what it stands for) and foils their plans to drug the world with LSD. At least, that's what might be going on. It's honestly hard to tell.

We would love to hear from you if you have any favorite psychedelic Italian films, or if you've ever had a powerful radio transmitter inserted into your body. You can contact us on Twitter and Instagram or by email at wildwildpodcast@gmail.com. You can also find our YouTube channel here.

We also now have a small but developing merch store on Zazzle, so check it out if you have always wanted to wear our logo in public.

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Euro-Spy Poster Art Again!

Wild, Wild Podcast Season 7: Ep 6 - FENOMENAL AND THE TREASURE OF TUTANKAMEN (1968)

In this phenomenally good episode, Rod and Adrian get to grips with a film that makes very little sense whichever language you watch it in. Yes, it's that dastardly master of crime/ vigilante hero (delete as appropriate, we couldn't work it out) Fenomenal! Thrill as he kicks drug dealers into the sea! Gasp as he climbs walls very carefully! Worry in case he bumps into the furniture with that mask on! Giggle as we wonder how anyone could NOT know who Fenomenal actually is! Is there more than one choice?

You can see the whole film for yourself on YouTubeYouTube.

We would love to hear from you if you have any favorite Italian comic or masked hero/ villain-based films, or if you have ever tried to steal priceless Egyptian relics. You can contact us on Twitter and Instagram or by email at wildwildpodcast@gmail.com. You can also find our YouTube channel here.

Please also remember to rate and review us on your podcast platform of choice and thank you for listening!

Wild, Wild Podcast S7: E4 - THE THREE FANTASTIC SUPERMEN (1967)

What's better than one Superman? That's right, it's three Supermen! And if you add Adrian and Rod, that makes five. Strap on your suction cups, grab your mini-capes and join them in them in this super-exciting, very silly adventure film that combines elements of the Peplum and the Eurospy with Batman and The Green Hornet. The Three Fantastic Supermen is nothing if not ambitious. But we never do figure out where the movie takes place.

We would love to hear from you if you have any favorite Italian comic or masked hero/ villain-based films, or if your children were ever replicated by an evil genius intent on world domination. You can contact us on Twitter and Instagram or by email at wildwildpodcast@gmail.com. You can also find our YouTube channel here. 

 

Video - ARGOMAN (1967)

If you've never seen this mad film - now is the time! Adrian and I will be talking about it soon on the next episode of Wild, Wild Podcast!

Wild, Wild Podcast Season 7: Episode 2 - SUPERARGO VS DIABOLICUS (1966) and SUPERARGO & THE FACELESS GIANTS (1968)

In this episode Adrian and I grab our bulletproof spandex and head for the wrestling ring for a tag team bout with Superargo! Based on his previous form, it's not likely to end well for our two middle-aged podcasters. Yes, Superargo is here, in a double-bill featuring maniacal mad men, secret underground lairs, killer robots, deadly swamps, femme fatales and extremely valuable cocktail olives!

Video - SUPERARGO VS DIABOLIKUS (1966)

Wild Wild Podcast on the way!

The Bloody Pit #189 - 1960's Mabuse Films!

I welcome writer Holger Haase to the show to discuss the 1960’s Dr. Mabuse films! Holger has written an essay published for Kindle called ‘The Many Masks of Dr. Mabuse: Mabuse in the 1960s’ and reading this prompted me to finally talk directly to Holger. The two of us have known each other for decades but it took our mutual love of these German crime films to use the internet to speak in a non-text based way. It was a little weird. 

We go (mostly) chronologically through the six films discussing each in turn. If you want to follow along at home here’s a list of the movies we talk about in this episode:

1. THE 1000 EYES OF DR. MABUSE (1960)

2. THE RETURN OF DR. MABUSE (1961) 

3. THE INVISIBLE DR. MABUSE (1962) 

4. THE TESTEMENT OF DR. MABUSE (1962)

5. DR. MABUSE VS SCOTLAND YARD (1963)

6. THE DEATH RAY OF DR. MABUSE (1964)

We touch on the cast members with extra attention to the ones that show up in multiple films even when their character’s names mysteriously change. Scriptwriter Ladislas Fodor’s impressive career is discussed as well as directors Fritz Lang and Harald Reinl who brought their many talents to the series. This series of films seems to have been forgotten over the past couple of decades, overshadowed by the original Lang films from 1922 and 1933. We hope to spur some interest in cinema fans curious to discover the hidden joys of these clever crime movies. They really are addictive!

 

If you have thoughts on the Mabuse films or the krimi cycle that they parallel thebloodypit@gmail.com is where you can send them. We’ll be happy to hear from you. Thanks for listening. 

 

Classic Euro-Spy Poster Art

Review - LUCKY, THE INSCRUTABLE (1967)

This is without a doubt one of my favorite Jess Franco movies. When I sit down for a Euro-Spy film I’m usually hoping for a serious espionage tale with a strong plot, great action, glamorous locations, beautiful ladies and a real sense of danger to the proceedings. But as I’ve watched more and more of the genre from its brief 1960s heyday, I’ve realized that what generally fuels these tales is a desire to not just play in James Bond’s sandbox but to kick the sand into the Bond franchise’s face. Even the most serious of the Euro-Spy films have at least a few moments in which they wink at the camera either in acknowledgement of the cinematic theft in progress or as a nod to what the audience might expect but that the smaller budget productions could simply not supply. If the film maintains a serious tone except for those few throwaway moments I can still fully enjoy the story and become caught up in the thrills. But if the film descends into silliness for the sake of cheap laughs I start to be distanced from the film and can only appreciate it at a much lower level. My general resistance to the overly humorous Spy thrillers is rarely overcome completely so when it IS overcome it’s a sign that (in my opinion) there is something really great being done by the filmmakers.

 

A good example of this is the brilliant relaunch of the French OSS:117 film series several years ago. Reimagined as a comedy thriller it managed to nail every target it aimed to hit while being both exciting and funny. But of the 1960s versions of spy comedies there are few that stand out as truly funny for me. I often wonder if they might have played better in their time as the Bond phenomenon swept the world than they do now. They almost had to, I guess. I suspect it’s similar to how the terrible/sad SCARY MOVIE franchise plays to big crowds on release but ages very poorly as the current events being mocked are left behind and forgotten.

But, back to LUCKY THE INSCRUTABLE! This film is great! Because I generally don’t like the overly humorous Euro-Spy movies I should not have enjoyed this at all but, against all odds, I did. Through some alchemy of filmmaking genius (yes- I said genius) Franco managed to make a funny, silly, witty, fast paced romp that, while never being credible in the least, is so damned amusing that I found myself being swept along. I swear I had a smile on my face for the whole film. I have no idea how well it would play in another language but the English dub is packed with quotable lines that more than once had me laughing out loud. 

Ray Danton is great as the smirking Secret Agent everyone knows (even when he’s in disguise) busy working his charms on ladies around the world as he attempts to track down counterfeit currency plates. The plot is, of course, just the thinnest of threads used to hang each gunfight, fistfight, romantic encounter, car chase or daring escape as we watch Danton and his co-stars have fun running through their various roles. Dante Posani plays a kind of sidekick accompanying our man Lucky on his adventure, Barbara Bold is present as a nice piece of tanned eye candy and the amazingly sexy Rosalba Neri shows up as a whip wielding Albanian General. Wow! Miss Neri’s character wasn’t needed in any way but I am SO glad she was present.

While the main target being skewered in this spoof/satire is clearly the Bond series Franco throws in a few other things too. Periodically there are still/posed shots with comic book-like word balloons commenting humorously on the action and when the film shifts location there is a full comic description (often in Italian so I’m not always sure what’s being communicated) to one side of the still moving image. It’s almost as if once things start moving, he didn’t want to slow down for anything. I suspect that if he had I would have focused on the silliness of the entire affair and had less fun. I also loved Franco’s two separate cameos – one as a man stabbed in the back who still somehow delivers his important message to Lucky and the second as a train hopping hobo who is found sleeping under a cow. You kind of have to see it to understand.

And did I mention the fantastic score by Bruno Nicolai? It’s a classic of the genre with a theme song I cannot get out of my head. I’ve known the music from this film for years from a Nicolai compilation CD but having the visuals finally linked to the sound is wonderful. Everything about this film says ‘We’re having a good time; we hope you are too’. 

Luckily, I found Lucky’s antics to be completely captivating and I can heartily recommend the film to the curious Euro-Trash enthusiast. I can honestly say that I laughed for almost the entire running time and I can’t say that about most comedies of any vintage. I really wish a good Blu-Ray of this film would get a release. The bootleg I watched is a passable way to see this gem but it deserves much more exposure.

The Bloody Pit #103 - MISSION STARDUST (1967)

Created by German science fiction authors K. H. Scheer and Walter Ernsting, Perry Rhodan is the central character in the world’s longest running science fiction book series. Publication began in 1961 and a new novella has hit newsstands in Germany every week ever since!  That means there have been more than 3000 Perry Rhodan stories in the past 59 years as well as 850 additional spinoff novels with no end in sight. In fact, the series passed the one billion copies sold mark all the way back in 1986. There was an attempt to bring the series to American in the 1970’s with the first 139 entries being translated into English and published but financial disputes ended this arrangement in 1979. I also suspect that they weren’t as popular over here as in their home country which has kept the continuing galaxy spanning tales of Perry Rhodan from the English-speaking world ever since.

Strangely, there has only been one attempt to bring this epic science fiction series to the screen. MISSION STARDUST (1967) uses the first two Perry Rhodan novellas to bring a version of the character and his world to the movies. The basics of the printed tale set things in motion (minus the more interesting/expensive parts) and then the story is melded with a standard Euro-Spy plotline to give us one of the stranger variations on the genre that the 1960’s ever produced. On his Antonio Margheriti Blog, Adrian Smith pointed out that this film’s special effects were done by Margheriti and his team sometime after the completion of the Gamma One films.  Dr. Smith suggested that the film was worthy of a conversation and after a rewatch I had to agree. It’s a bizarre genre mash-up that works far better than it really should even if the fans of the book series have every right to treat this film with the same disdain that the female alien Thora has for the human race!

If you have any comments or suggestions for the podcast please write to thebloodypit@gmail.com or comment over on the show’s FaceBook page. Thank you for listening and we’ll be back in a few weeks.

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MISTER X (1967)

I acquired MISTER X (1967) under the very similar title AVENGER X - Let's not go into how I acquired it. I had been told that it was a kind of Euro Spy film and I guess it almost fits into that category. The problem is that the film barely has a story and until the last act is pretty damned boring. I guess, to be  more accurate, it does have some semblance of a story but it is so poorly related that in the end it just seems like a string of events held together by the presence of some of the same actors playing characters that all seem like they should be in a Euro Spy film. It's an indifferently directed, sloppily dubbed and haphazardly scored Adventure/Crime / Thriller in which the bad guys are trying very hard to be hardened criminal types. These bad guys are involved in or scheming to become involved in the standard movie Vague Drug Trade that will net them all millions.

The main character - Mister X - is a smirking, smarmy attempt to be Diabolik about a year before Mario Bava brought that good/bad guy to the screen. As in DANGER: DIABOLIK (1968) our antihero is a master of hiding in plain sight and has the ability to disguise himself so well as to be appear to be someone completely different. This chameleon-like ability is not used very effectively in the story, much as little else in the film is all that effective. Well - until the final fifteen minutes when the action gets interesting and a few random story elements actually come together. That last act is good enough that it almost makes it worth sitting through this lackadaisical meander around some out of season European tourist locales. 

The one element of the film that I can give full marks is the presence of two of the female actors. I originally tracked this film down because the amazing Helga Line has a small role in it and she is a joy, sporting jet black hair while playing a gangster's moll with a sneaky plan of her own. Sadly, the film only gives her one good scene but at least it is opposite the other entertaining actress Gaia Germani. Miss Germani plays Mister X's sidekick/lover and she gets to shine here showing off real energy and a wonderfully expressive face. I've spotted her in a couple of other Italian films from the 1960's (HERCULES IN THE HAUNTED WORLD, CASTLE OF THE LIVING DEAD, the Euro Spy film YPOTRON) but it's in this one that she is so sensual and cute I couldn't take my eyes off of her. I kept wishing the film would just focus on her especially after she demonstrates her own hand to hand combat skills.

Euro-Spy Music!

I have no good reason to be listening to these tunes. I haven't watched a Euro-Spy film in months! But every now and then I just get the urge to hear some of these amazing pieces of music. See if they hit your spot as well.

Euro-Spy Poster Art!

Every now and then I just have to dip back into this pool!