Fantasy Batman poster art

These are really making me want to pull out my DVDs of the old Batman serials and finally finish them.

LUCKY, THE INSCRUTABLE (1967)

I’m tempted to say ‘Where has this fantastic film been all my life?’ but that would be the wrong way to approach LUCKY THE INSCRUTABLE (a.k.a. Agente speciale L.K.). I don’t think that I would have enjoyed this film if I hadn’t spent the last couple of years soaking up a number of its Euro-Spy genre brethren. I fear that if I had watched this ten years ago I would have turned up my nose and never looked back so thank God I waited until now.

This is without a doubt one of my favorite Jess Franco movies. I have learned over the past 15 or so years to enjoy movies from nearly every period of his career so maybe this isn’t too surprising but this film really blew me away and I’m a little shocked at my own reaction. 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 a couple of 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 to which 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 DVD 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.

Opening credits for LUCKY, THE INSCRUTABLE (1967)

I cannot get Bruno Nicolai's score for this film out of my head.

Where are The Herculoids?

Thinking about old Saturday morning cartoons lately has me pining to see some more of the joys of my youth. As a youngster I caught up with The Herculoids in reruns but I had no way of knowing that they had been originally produced in the late 1960s. I also didn't care! The show was just far too damned cool for a super-hero and monster besotted kid to be anything other than 'must see TV'. Of course, I'm more than aware as an adult how limited the stories were but it still hits that nostalgic sweet spot for me even as I agree with almost everything written in this amusing posting. Here's the variant opening credit sequence--


And just because it makes me smile here's an entire adventure -- in Portuguese!



Now- when does the entire run come out on DVD? I'm waiting.....

Scooby Doo's Descendants

I've been watching a few cartoons from the days of my youth (i.e. the 1970s) and having a pretty good time doing so. But I've noticed that a lot of the Hanna-Barbera shows I missed as a kid are nothing but transparent variations on the original Scooby Doo show. Not that its a terrible thing to discover but it does kind of make digging into these old shows a little less fun. I can't help but imagine how much more I might like a particular episode if it was Shaggy and the gang running away from the disguised bad guys.





And, now that I think of it, my beloved Speed Buggy is a non-scary variation on the same concept. Damn!

Poster art for THE TIME TRAVELERS (1964)

This is a pretty bad movie overall but I still kind of like it. It's juvenile, silly, poorly thought out, tonally off and fairly dumb but it has a kind of Saturday afternoon matinee charm that hits a strange sweet spot for me. I know I shouldn't like it but I do. Have you ever had a film strike you in that way?

Poster art for THE UNCANNY (1977)

I have still never seen this Peter Cushing film but I have to say- this poster art makes me want to track it down ASAP. Wow!