Paul Naschy Tumbler site

I'm not sure how I've managed to miss this fantastic collection of Naschy images But I'll certainly be checking in regularly to see what gems turn up from now on.



Fuck Yeah, Paul Naschy!

Euro-Spy movies on NetFlix!!

I've been alerted once again to great news by the fantastic blog Double O Section. Several Spy movies that remain unavailable on DVD are on the NetFlix streaming service just waiting for discovery and although I had heard of very few of them I now have added all of them to my cue. How can I resist a movie that stars my beloved Marisa Mell alongside Cliff Robertson, Jack Hawkins and Charles Gray?

Or a film starring Yul Brynner and Edward Woodward called THE FILE OF THE GOLDEN GOOSE?

Or a Seth Holt directed spy tale with Richard Johnson, Carol Lynley, Barbara Bouchet and Diana Dors?

I'll be trying to see all of these and several more Euro-Spy offerings through NetFlix very soon and thanking my lucky stars that such an option exists. I might prefer a DVD but just the chance to see these rare movies is pretty damned cool.

Endings are hard

I'm probably very late to the party with this but I laughed long and hard.

WORLD WITHOUT END (1956) poster art

This film gets very little respect but I love it. I can't defend the giant spider scene but I still love it! One of the movie's finer elements is that it was shot very widescreen and the full image is used effectively even for the sillier moments. All praise CinemaScope science fiction from the 1950s!

THE VENGEANCE OF DR. MABUSE (1972)

After a small Franco binge I now present some thoughts on Dr. M schlägt zu (1972) a.k.a. THE VENGEANCE OF DR. MABUSE. From what I can find out this was the last entry in the revival series of Mabuse films started when Lang was induced to crank out the brilliant 1000 EYES OF DR. MABUSE in 1960. Much like the Fu Manchu films of the same period it was left to Franco to slam the door shut in such a way as to make it pointless to make another for years to come.


Everyone’s favorite wooden Indian, Jack Taylor, plays Mabuse or Farkus or whatever damned name the dub you come across labels him. Holed up in a sinisterly lit lab consisting of one room with some random computer-like objects and a basement hallway with a few makeshift cells. Mabuse/Farkus plots to……uuuhhh…...he uuuhhhh..... I can’t actually remember what exactly he was trying to accomplish but it involves sending out his butch lesbian helper and his monstrous creature Andros to kidnap gorgeous women to make their fathers or husbands do something or another. I think it had something to do with building a death ray but don’t quote me! And, of course, there is a character named Orloff that figures in the tale but don’t get too attached to him.

Anyway- we have the Bad Doctor Mabuse/Farkus assembling his victims at the same time we watch the local sheriff and his deputy lackadaisically investigate the disappearance of the women that are being carted off. The film seems to be set in the desert Southwest of the United States with several mentions of escaping over the border to Mexico tossed around. This is made almost believable visually with some clever framing to crop out obvious European locales but I have no idea what ocean they are near. Is it supposed to be the Pacific? If so, the coast is way wrong… what am I doing? It doesn’t matter – we’re in Franco Land! At the edge of this (inland ?) sea there are several supposedly touching scenes of a disconsolate and depressed Andros dumping the occasional corpse and weeping like a big wuss. Poor guy. I can understand. I often fall in love with the helpless prisoners my overbearing boss makes me kill too.

The strangest element of this strange movie is the two policemen. They are dressed like they stepped off the set of a TV western although they drive a crappy, overheating sedan and don’t seem to carry guns. I wonder if the cowboy sheriff character was a nod to the McCloud TV character or if Franco just had them dress that way for no good reason at all. Did Franco ever make a western?

Much time is wasted in THE VENGEANCE OF DR. MABUSE watching the police fail to figure anything out as the evil master plan that makes little sense implodes in the usual way that poorly thought out death ray plans do. As was typical during this period of his career Franco manages to conjure an OK story with very, very little in the way of resources. I think there may have been four separate interiors, a couple of other outdoor locations and a couple of cars used. All of Jack Taylor’s scenes could have been filmed in one or two days as he never leaves the lab set and no one seems to have more than two sets of clothes. This is low budget, something outta nothing filmmaking at its…..finest, I guess. If you can get into the mood and get a kick out of the slightly sleazy Mad Scientist pulp story he is telling it can be a good time for the 80 minute length chug. You have to be willing to forgive it the usual sloppiness- day shots colliding with night shots in the same scene; the shadow of the camera and Franco as cameraman creeping into frame; pointless gibberish for dialog; etc.- but if you are aware of what to expect it’s not bad. It’s not too good either, but I kind of got a kick out of it.

Peplum Poster Art

I feel a Sword & Sandal viewing is on the horizon. But which film shall I choose?

DEADLIER THAN THE MALE (1967)

This week I caught up with the 1967 British produced Euro-Spy film mostly know under the title DEADLIER THAN THE MALE and found it to be an incredibly enjoyable experience. Fast paced, gorgeously photographed, well cast and sporting a pretty clever script it is 90 minutes of very entertaining Jet Age nonsense. I was curious mainly because of my interest in the Spy sub-genre of course but I have to admit that a major draw was the presence of Elke Sommer and Silvia Koscina as a pair of often bikini clad assassins working for a shadowy criminal mastermind. They are great in their roles with Elke getting the most screen time and really making the best of it. I read a review of another film recently with someone criticizing her acting skills as being sub-par. Maybe in the grand scheme of things she isn’t a fantastic thespian but in this movie she shines brightly. Vicious to the point of being bloodthirsty, coldly calculating with business clients and sexy as Hell the entire time Miss Sommer is a joy to behold. Miss Koscina seems less confident here than in other movies in which I’ve seen her. She is good as the kleptomaniac of the deadly duo but I began to wonder if acting completely in English was something she had to become comfortable with as the shooting went on. To be sure, by the time she has a guy tied down to a table and is torturing the poor bastard for information she was hitting every mark perfectly but her first few scenes were a little rocky.


The star of the picture is Richard Johnson who I’ve become a huge fan of over the years. I think I first saw him in the classic ghost tale THE HAUNTING but when I think of him I usually remember his world weary turn in Fulci’s ZOMBIE before anything else. A damned good actor he seems to have known that this picture was a fun sub-Bond adventure and played it as such. The biggest surprise was learning that in this film he plays ‘Bulldog’ Dummond! I’ve been slowly getting my hands on several of the early films featuring this character from the 1930s but was completely unaware that this was one of his later cinematic appearances. It was almost like finding an extra cookie in the jar! And apparently there was a sequel to this film too. I’m going to have to track it down.


If you’re a fan of the Euro-Spy genre or if you’re thinking of finally venturing past the 1960s Bond films for more of that groovy espionage glow this might be the place to start. I might like some of the wilder Italian made movies better but this could act as the gateway drug for neophytes. Hell! I’ve been digging into the genre for years and this film has got me aching for more right now!