Welcome to the Hammer Factory. This month we dissect Demons of the Mind (1972).
While Hammer Studios has been in business since 1934, it was between 1955 and 1979 that it towered as one of the premier sources of edgy, gothic horror. On top of ushering the famous monsters of Universal’s horror heyday back into the public eye, resurrecting the likes of Frankenstein, Dracula and the Mummy in vivid color, the studio invited performers like Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Ingrid Pitt and so many more to step into the genre limelight. Spanning a library housing over 300 films, Hammer Studios is a key part of horror history that until recently has been far too difficult to track down.
In late 2018, Shout Factory’s Scream Factory line began to focus on bringing Hammer’s titles to disc in the US, finally making many of the studio’s underseen gems available in packages that offered great...
While Hammer Studios has been in business since 1934, it was between 1955 and 1979 that it towered as one of the premier sources of edgy, gothic horror. On top of ushering the famous monsters of Universal’s horror heyday back into the public eye, resurrecting the likes of Frankenstein, Dracula and the Mummy in vivid color, the studio invited performers like Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Ingrid Pitt and so many more to step into the genre limelight. Spanning a library housing over 300 films, Hammer Studios is a key part of horror history that until recently has been far too difficult to track down.
In late 2018, Shout Factory’s Scream Factory line began to focus on bringing Hammer’s titles to disc in the US, finally making many of the studio’s underseen gems available in packages that offered great...
- 5/18/2023
- by Paul Farrell
- bloody-disgusting.com
Musical moments like this one on Mad Men certainly take the spotlight at times. It also tends to introduce main characters like Megan since her rendition of Zou Bisou Bisou by Gillian Hills tends to steal the show for just a bit. Yet these are the moments that get remembered the most since these are the moments that tend to capture the eyes and the ears of people watching. You can see the reaction in the room as well as it turns from uncertainty to amazement and in some cases quiet judgment that you know won’t fade away for the
Musical Moments on TV: “Zou Bisou Bisou” on Mad Men...
Musical Moments on TV: “Zou Bisou Bisou” on Mad Men...
- 2/22/2018
- by Wake
- TVovermind.com
“A Mod Murder Mystery”
By Raymond Benson
Michelangelo Antonioni’s Blowup (it’s spelled this way in the film credits, but on theatrical posters and advertising it was called Blow-Up) was a landmark, envelope-pushing film that caused quite a stir. For one thing, it was one of the nails in the coffin of the U.S. Production Code, paving the way for the elimination of cinematic censorship and the eventual creation of the movie ratings. Its depiction of nudity, sexual attitudes, and recreational drugs crossed the line for late 1966. Nevertheless, newspaper ads got away with simply proclaiming that the picture was “Recommended for Mature Audiences,” since this was prior to the ratings themselves.
Blowup also stands as a cultural landmark in that it captures that moment of time called “Swinging London.” Everything was “mod”—music, fashion, art... even groups of youths were called “mods.” Antonioni’s film could serve as...
By Raymond Benson
Michelangelo Antonioni’s Blowup (it’s spelled this way in the film credits, but on theatrical posters and advertising it was called Blow-Up) was a landmark, envelope-pushing film that caused quite a stir. For one thing, it was one of the nails in the coffin of the U.S. Production Code, paving the way for the elimination of cinematic censorship and the eventual creation of the movie ratings. Its depiction of nudity, sexual attitudes, and recreational drugs crossed the line for late 1966. Nevertheless, newspaper ads got away with simply proclaiming that the picture was “Recommended for Mature Audiences,” since this was prior to the ratings themselves.
Blowup also stands as a cultural landmark in that it captures that moment of time called “Swinging London.” Everything was “mod”—music, fashion, art... even groups of youths were called “mods.” Antonioni’s film could serve as...
- 3/26/2017
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Brigitte Horney is not much remembered today, despite a long, distinguished career (films for Siodmak, Wegener, Fanck, the Nazi Baron Munchausen). Tarantino's name-checking of her during the pub games of Inglourious Basterds is probably her one star moment. Maybe the porn star name doesn't help: if Emil Jannings had been christened Emil Bigballs, he might not enjoy the status he currently has.Horney did not confine her activities to Germany: Secret Lives is a version of the Mata Hari history/legend produced in Britain with a French director, the versatile, some would say hacky, Edmond T. Gréville, whose most famous British creation was the 1960 camp classic Beat Girl (John Barry score; Gillian Hills; Christopher Lee; Oliver Reed; striptease and juvenile delinquency). But his '30s and '40s work, mostly in France, was generally slick and stylish.As a flagrant roman à clef treatment of the career of a celebrated seductress,...
- 9/21/2016
- MUBI
When Matthew Weiner cast Montreal native Jessica Paré as a pretty assistant at Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce, only a few people knew that she would eventually become Mrs. Don Draper. Initially, Paré was not one of those few, so even after a moon-eyed Draper proposed to her during the final episode of season 4, she understood that her next scene could very easily include her resting peacefully in a casket. But Weiner had other ideas, and in the long-awaited season 5 premiere, he unveiled a whole new show dynamic, with Don and Megan’s relationship at the heart of it. “I said it as a joke,...
- 12/4/2012
- by Jeff Labrecque
- EW - Inside TV
Sound on Sight Radio #320: Best of French Cinema – Louis Malle, Robert Bresson and Francois Truffaut
For his birthday show, Ricky D selects…sad French films? He’ll explain his choice soon enough, just be aware of the all-classic lineup: Robert Bresson’s Mouchette (with an assist from Julian), Louis Malle’s revered 1987 autobiographical coming-of-age drama Au revoir, les enfants (with Justine), and finally the unavoidable early New Wave touchstone Les quatre cents coups, aka The 400 Blows, which Ricky and Simon take on solo.
Download the show in a new window
Music Playlist:
Gillian Hills – “Zou Bisou Bisou”
Serge Gainsbourg & Brigitte Bardot – “No, No, Yes, Yes”
- Listen on iTunes RSS feeds Twitter Facebook Tumblr Podcast Feed...
Download the show in a new window
Music Playlist:
Gillian Hills – “Zou Bisou Bisou”
Serge Gainsbourg & Brigitte Bardot – “No, No, Yes, Yes”
- Listen on iTunes RSS feeds Twitter Facebook Tumblr Podcast Feed...
- 5/22/2012
- by Ricky
- SoundOnSight
Mad Men star Jessica Pare had no idea how big a part she had landed when she was first cast as Jon Hamm's receptionist on the hit TV show and was convinced her character would be fired from episode to episode.
The actress was brought in as advertising executive Don Draper's office assistant Megan in the fourth season of the period drama, and the two characters embarked on a love affair which resulted in marriage, bringing Pare back for the current season five.
But Pare insists she wasn't worried about being written out of the programme - she was content just watching Hamm and his leading co-stars from the sidelines.
She tells New York Magazine, "Every time I did an episode, I didn't know if I would be back. I was just happy to sit in the background if they did a scene in the reception area."
And when production on Mad Men was shut down last year due to a contract dispute between the show's creator Matthew Weiner and bosses at TV network AMC, Pare was sure Megan would be killed off at the start of the new season.
She adds, "I kept saying, 'Two words: closed casket'. It (season premiere) opens on a closed casket. Pan up to Don, bereaved, winks at a blonde down the aisle. Bye-bye, Megan."
Instead, Pare stole the show when the programme returned to U.S. screens earlier this year by performing a sexy rendition of Gillian Hills' 1960s French tune Zou Bisou Bisou in character at a birthday party for Draper.
The actress was brought in as advertising executive Don Draper's office assistant Megan in the fourth season of the period drama, and the two characters embarked on a love affair which resulted in marriage, bringing Pare back for the current season five.
But Pare insists she wasn't worried about being written out of the programme - she was content just watching Hamm and his leading co-stars from the sidelines.
She tells New York Magazine, "Every time I did an episode, I didn't know if I would be back. I was just happy to sit in the background if they did a scene in the reception area."
And when production on Mad Men was shut down last year due to a contract dispute between the show's creator Matthew Weiner and bosses at TV network AMC, Pare was sure Megan would be killed off at the start of the new season.
She adds, "I kept saying, 'Two words: closed casket'. It (season premiere) opens on a closed casket. Pan up to Don, bereaved, winks at a blonde down the aisle. Bye-bye, Megan."
Instead, Pare stole the show when the programme returned to U.S. screens earlier this year by performing a sexy rendition of Gillian Hills' 1960s French tune Zou Bisou Bisou in character at a birthday party for Draper.
- 5/16/2012
- WENN
If you watched the season premiere of Mad Men, or have a friend who did, or belong to a social network of any kind, you are likely aware that it included a scene with some French song by some chick that no one could stop thinking, whistling, or talking about. By the end of the week, clips of Jessica Paré’s performance of “Zou Bisou Bisou” had been viewed half a million times on YouTube. Another version, performed by Gillian Hills, a not-quite-"It" girl in the sixties, had just 5,000 views when Mad Men’s theme song kicked in last Sunday. Five days later, that tally was approaching 300,000. Only one question remained, as it always does on Mad Men: Who could profit from this sexy number?On Tuesday morning, Lionsgate, which produces the show, released Paré’s performance on iTunes. By that afternoon, it was in the "Top 100," lodged...
- 3/30/2012
- by Reeves Wiedeman
- Vulture
Jessica Pare has followed in her Mad Men predecessor January Jones' footsteps in more ways than one. Not only is her character Megan a trophy wife married to Jon Hamm's slick ad man, Don Draper, but Pare, like Jones, has been catapulted to fame because of the prestigious role. Don proposed to Megan in the Season Four finale. But Pare immediately proved her mettle in Sunday's Season Five premiere, after singing Gillian Hills' "Zou Bisou Bisou" song and performing a little light-s&M housekeeping while wearing black lace lingerie. Post 'Mad Men' Costume Designer On Jessica Pare's 'Zou Bisou' Minidress,
read more...
read more...
- 3/28/2012
- by Elizabeth Snead
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
It.s amazing what 48 hours can do for an obscure French pop song.but then not all obscure French pop songs are chosen to become the musical centerpiece of the first new episode of Mad Men in nearly two years. From the moment Megan, played by Quebecois actress Jessica Paré, grabbed a microphone to perform a disarmingly sensuous performance of .Zou Bisou Bisou..a 1961 hit for Gillian Hills, later recorded by Sophia Lauren for the movie The Millionairess.the playful, sexy song lit up social media switchboards everywhere. AMC anticipated... More >>...
- 3/27/2012
- by Seth Abramovitch
- TV.com
I went out Sunday night and left Mad Men’s season-five premiere to the DVR, so perhaps you can imagine my confusion when I woke up Monday and found my Twitter feed suddenly buzzing about “Zou Bisou Bisou.” Was it possible that the entire world had suddenly gotten really into a song by Gillian Hills, the sixties actress and singer billed as the next Brigitte Bardot? Were we experiencing some kind of overnight comeback for “yé-yé” music — the early-sixties wave of French and Spanish teen-pop, full of young women diving into girl-group and rock-and-roll and pop-romantic sounds? (The “yé-yé” is for “yeah yeah.”) Any chance some of the records in my closet just quadrupled their eBay value? Oh right, right: Mad Men.But if you found yourself charmed by the new Mrs. Draper’s rendition of “Zou Bisou Bisou,” I have good news for you: Getting into yé-yé is a treat.
- 3/27/2012
- by Nitsuh Abebe
- Vulture
AMC Jessica Pare’s Megan Draper after singing the French pop hit “Zou Bisou Bisou” at husband Don’s surprise 40th birthday party.
One of the most talked-about scenes in Sunday’s season five premiere of “Mad Men” was Megan Draper’s sultry performance of the French pop hit “Zou Bisou Bisou” at husband Don’s surprise 40th birthday party.
Actress Jessica Paré, who portrays Megan on the hit AMC series, said in an interview Monday that the reaction to...
One of the most talked-about scenes in Sunday’s season five premiere of “Mad Men” was Megan Draper’s sultry performance of the French pop hit “Zou Bisou Bisou” at husband Don’s surprise 40th birthday party.
Actress Jessica Paré, who portrays Megan on the hit AMC series, said in an interview Monday that the reaction to...
- 3/27/2012
- by Alexandra Kaptik
- Speakeasy/Wall Street Journal
Mad Men star Jessica Pare's rendition of Gillian Hills' 1960s tune Zou Bisou Bisou has shot to the top of iTunes.com's download list after the actress performed the French pop tune on the season premiere of the hit drama on Sunday
Pare performed the tune in character as Megan Draper at a birthday party and her version of the song, which Sophia Loren performed in The Millionairess, was one of the most in-demand downloads on Monday.
A limited edition seven-inch single of the recording is available to fans of the show via the Mad Men website.
Pare performed the tune in character as Megan Draper at a birthday party and her version of the song, which Sophia Loren performed in The Millionairess, was one of the most in-demand downloads on Monday.
A limited edition seven-inch single of the recording is available to fans of the show via the Mad Men website.
- 3/27/2012
- WENN
It's been so long since the best series on television was airing (17 months!) that this new version of The Film Experience has never seen an episode of "Mad Men at the Movies". Last night the miserable sexy funny smart complex men and women of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce returned to take us all back to the sixties once again. In this series we document the show's love affair with the cinema. Don Draper (Jon Hamm) is a movie buff and references tend to be sprinkled in for vintage flavor, character detailing and thematic resonance. Unfortunately this two hour premiere had no movie references. Damn!
5.1 "A Little Kiss, Part 1"
5.2 "A Little Kiss, Part 2"
The episode opened oddly with none of the familiar characters and a confrontation between African American picketers and immature men at an ad agency (not Scdp). By the time the episode ended, a small plot detail in the...
5.1 "A Little Kiss, Part 1"
5.2 "A Little Kiss, Part 2"
The episode opened oddly with none of the familiar characters and a confrontation between African American picketers and immature men at an ad agency (not Scdp). By the time the episode ended, a small plot detail in the...
- 3/27/2012
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
After 19 months of anticipation, "Mad Men" returned to AMC in stylish fashion Sunday night in its season five premiere. "Extra" has compiled the most memorable moments of the night!
Highlights of 'Mad Men' Season 5 PremiereDon's 40th Birthday
Don's secretary-turned-wife, Megan, threw a surprise party for the 40-year-old mad man, and gave a sultry performance of Gillian Hills', "Zou Bisou Bisou." A perfect balance of awkward and endearing, the scene was one of the most unforgettable of the evening.
Highlights of 'Mad Men' Season 5 PremiereDon's 40th Birthday
Don's secretary-turned-wife, Megan, threw a surprise party for the 40-year-old mad man, and gave a sultry performance of Gillian Hills', "Zou Bisou Bisou." A perfect balance of awkward and endearing, the scene was one of the most unforgettable of the evening.
- 3/26/2012
- Extra
If you liked Jessica Pare's sultry performance of "Zou Bisou Bisou" on last night's season premiere of "Mad Men," you're in luck. Liongate Television Music has released the single on iTunes.
In addition to the digitial single, Lionsgate is also selling two vinyl editions of Pare's recording (it's available in either red or black vinyl). The studio says the track will eventually be available on Amazon and in stores as well. The song is Pare's first to hit iTunes.
Pare, who plays Megan Draper, Don Draper's new, young wife, performs the song at a party her character throws for Don (Jon Hamm). Her rendition has already been dissected across the internet, and helped Pare's character transform from a minor plot device to a full-fledged member of the world of Sterling Draper Cooper Pryce.
According to Lionsgate, "Zou Bisou Bisou" was originally recorded in 1961 by British actress Gillian Hills, but Vulture...
In addition to the digitial single, Lionsgate is also selling two vinyl editions of Pare's recording (it's available in either red or black vinyl). The studio says the track will eventually be available on Amazon and in stores as well. The song is Pare's first to hit iTunes.
Pare, who plays Megan Draper, Don Draper's new, young wife, performs the song at a party her character throws for Don (Jon Hamm). Her rendition has already been dissected across the internet, and helped Pare's character transform from a minor plot device to a full-fledged member of the world of Sterling Draper Cooper Pryce.
According to Lionsgate, "Zou Bisou Bisou" was originally recorded in 1961 by British actress Gillian Hills, but Vulture...
- 3/26/2012
- by The Huffington Post
- Huffington Post
It sounded like Megan Draper was singing "Zubi Zubi Zu" to hubby Don on Sunday's "Mad Men" season five premiere, but the French tune is actually called "Zou Bisou Bisou" and actress Jessica Pare's performance is now available on iTunes. The 1960s pop song -- a hit for British actress and pop star Gillian Hills -- was newbie Mrs. Draper's gift to Don (Jon Hamm) during his surprise 40th birthday party in the season's opening episode. Also read: 'Mad Men' Gathers No Dust in 17 Months on the Shelf The song, and more...
- 3/26/2012
- by Kimberly Potts
- The Wrap
Jessica Paré's cover of 'Zou Bisou Bisou' becomes an instant online sensation after it's performed on season-five premiere.
By Jocelyn Vena
Jessica Paré and Jon Hamm in "Mad Men"
Photo: AMC
During Sunday night's , Don Draper got a sexy birthday gift from his new wife and former secretary, Megan (played by Jessica Paré).
Backed by her beatnik pals, she performed a breathy version of the '60s French pop tune tune "Zou Bisou Bisou," which translates to "Oh You, Kiss Kiss."
Decked out in a little black dress, Megan performed the song with the eyes of Don's co-workers and friends on her. But she didn't just sing it: She also provocatively danced her way through the performance to the shock and awe of the partygoers. While Don, who was celebrating the big 4-0, seemed amused during the sultry summer performance, he didn't seem to want to discuss any of...
By Jocelyn Vena
Jessica Paré and Jon Hamm in "Mad Men"
Photo: AMC
During Sunday night's , Don Draper got a sexy birthday gift from his new wife and former secretary, Megan (played by Jessica Paré).
Backed by her beatnik pals, she performed a breathy version of the '60s French pop tune tune "Zou Bisou Bisou," which translates to "Oh You, Kiss Kiss."
Decked out in a little black dress, Megan performed the song with the eyes of Don's co-workers and friends on her. But she didn't just sing it: She also provocatively danced her way through the performance to the shock and awe of the partygoers. While Don, who was celebrating the big 4-0, seemed amused during the sultry summer performance, he didn't seem to want to discuss any of...
- 3/26/2012
- MTV Movie News
Jessica Paré's cover of 'Zou Bisou Bisou' becomes an instant online sensation after it's performed on season-five premiere.
By Jocelyn Vena
Jessica Paré and Jon Hamm in "Mad Men"
Photo: AMC
During Sunday night's , Don Draper got a sexy birthday gift from his new wife and former secretary, Megan (played by Jessica Paré).
Backed by her beatnik pals, she performed a breathy version of the '60s French pop tune tune "Zou Bisou Bisou," which translates to "Oh You, Kiss Kiss."
Decked out in a little black dress, Megan performed the song with the eyes of Don's co-workers and friends on her. But she didn't just sing it: She also provocatively danced her way through the performance to the shock and awe of the partygoers. While Don, who was celebrating the big 4-0, seemed amused during the sultry summer performance, he didn't seem to want to discuss any of...
By Jocelyn Vena
Jessica Paré and Jon Hamm in "Mad Men"
Photo: AMC
During Sunday night's , Don Draper got a sexy birthday gift from his new wife and former secretary, Megan (played by Jessica Paré).
Backed by her beatnik pals, she performed a breathy version of the '60s French pop tune tune "Zou Bisou Bisou," which translates to "Oh You, Kiss Kiss."
Decked out in a little black dress, Megan performed the song with the eyes of Don's co-workers and friends on her. But she didn't just sing it: She also provocatively danced her way through the performance to the shock and awe of the partygoers. While Don, who was celebrating the big 4-0, seemed amused during the sultry summer performance, he didn't seem to want to discuss any of...
- 3/26/2012
- MTV Music News
Jessica Paré-as-Megan Draper's sultry take on Gillian Hills' 1961 "Zou bisou bisou," while her husband and guests looked on with varying degrees of admiration, lust, discomfort and embarrassment, was the signature moment of last night's "Mad Men" season premiere. And the people behind the show knew it too, because Insound is already offering a period-appropriate vinyl 7" single of Paré's rendidtion of the yé-yé tune, complete with a divinely '60s-cocktail-party type cover. The B-side is RJD2's "A Beautiful Mine" -- aka the "Mad Men" opening theme. While Hills sang the French version that Paré took on, the song was originally sung in English by Sophia Loren. Here's a rough version of the scene that someone's uploaded to YouTube (for as long as it will last): And here, for contrast, is Christina Hendricks as Joan Harris...
- 3/26/2012
- by Alison Willmore
- Indiewire
That Don Draper sure is a lucky guy. Witty co-workers, central-casting kids, a hot wife: he's got it all. Then why is he such a dour bastard? Could you remain so sternly aloof if your wife was the Liv Tyler-ish Jessica Pare and she sang you a sexy birthday song like you were JFK? (That's a rhetorical question. No, no you could not.) In case you missed it (it must be cold under that rock), last night's Mad Men premiere featured the delightful Megan Draper serenading her husband Don during his fortieth-birthday "surprise" party. The flirty little French number she sings is actually an old pop song called "Zou Bisou Bisou", roughly translating to "Oh! Kiss Kiss!", originally recorded by French "ye-ye" singer Gillian Hills. The tune was famously featured in 1966's Blow-Up. (Anachronism-seekers foiled again.) Pare's [...]...
- 3/26/2012
- Nerve
For those of you who quickly Googled the French song from the Mad Men Season 5 premiere which Megan performed to maximum hotkward effect, here’s the original recording of the song “Zou Bisou Bisou” performed by Gillian Hills in 1962 (and later by Sophia Loren). Just looking at this embed has gotten the song stuck back in your head for another 24 hours, so you might as well go ahead and watch it. For the record, if you Googled the song phonetically by typing in “Zubee Zubee Zoo,” the first result was this awesome website about Zubee The Zuffalo. He doesn’t actually come up on Mad Men until episode 3 of this season, when Roger takes credit for Pete landing Zubee The Zuffalo as a client. Re-experience the super-catchy tune and Don’s eternal workplace pain below:...
- 3/26/2012
- by Dan Hopper
- BestWeekEver
When Mad Men's season 4 wrapped up nearly a year and a half ago, Don Draper (Jon Hamm) was on the precipice of a major life change. He had proposed to his young secretary, Megan (Jessica Paré) after taking her on a trip to Disneyland with his children. As in seasons past, Sunday night's premiere episode has been shrouded in secrecy - with nary a plot point revealed. (Not even the year in which the season is set!) So, if you haven't seen the season 5 premiere yet, stop reading! There are spoilers ahead … Video: Jon Hamm's Top 5 Lol MomentsIt's...
- 3/26/2012
- by Brian Orloff
- PEOPLE.com
AMC Scene from “Mad Men” with Jon Hamm as Don Draper and Elisabeth Moss as Peggy Olson.
Editor’s note: Every Sunday after the newest episode of “Mad Men,” lawyer and Supreme Court advocate Walter Dellinger will host an online dialogue about the show. The participants include Columbia University history professor Alan Brinkley, Stanford Law Professor Pam Karlan, and Columbia theater and television professor Evangeline Morphos. Dellinger will post his thoughts shortly after each episode ends at 11 p.m., and...
Editor’s note: Every Sunday after the newest episode of “Mad Men,” lawyer and Supreme Court advocate Walter Dellinger will host an online dialogue about the show. The participants include Columbia University history professor Alan Brinkley, Stanford Law Professor Pam Karlan, and Columbia theater and television professor Evangeline Morphos. Dellinger will post his thoughts shortly after each episode ends at 11 p.m., and...
- 3/26/2012
- by Walter Dellinger
- Speakeasy/Wall Street Journal
Composer John Barry may be best known for his 007 scores, but we look beyond Bond for a detailed look at the rest of his extraordinary career...
Timeless, innovative, expansive and sensual, the music of John Barry Prendergast is a thought-provoking testament to a man who set the bar high and kept on raising it.
For many of us, the work of British composer, Barry, is synonymous with the Bond franchise, and there's no mistaking his contribution to that legacy. His work (along with that of Monty Norman) came to signify the arch, dangerously seductive swagger and cool, ambivalent melancholy that is the man behind the martini glass. He captured a world of intrigue, code and double meaning, of subterfuge, ambiguity, covert operation and sexuality. His was a trenchant and identifiable yet intriguingly elliptical and diverse musical sensibility that lassoed widely different vocalists from Louis Armstrong to Duran Duran, invariably producing something magnetic and memorable.
Timeless, innovative, expansive and sensual, the music of John Barry Prendergast is a thought-provoking testament to a man who set the bar high and kept on raising it.
For many of us, the work of British composer, Barry, is synonymous with the Bond franchise, and there's no mistaking his contribution to that legacy. His work (along with that of Monty Norman) came to signify the arch, dangerously seductive swagger and cool, ambivalent melancholy that is the man behind the martini glass. He captured a world of intrigue, code and double meaning, of subterfuge, ambiguity, covert operation and sexuality. His was a trenchant and identifiable yet intriguingly elliptical and diverse musical sensibility that lassoed widely different vocalists from Louis Armstrong to Duran Duran, invariably producing something magnetic and memorable.
- 7/25/2011
- Den of Geek
David Hemmings, Gillian Hills in Michelangelo Antonioni's Blowup Blowup Review Part II The Warner Bros.' DVD of Michelangelo Antonioni's Blowup is amazingly crisp. The movie looks like it could have been filmed this year — and I say this having seen the last two Woody Allen efforts set in London. Equally amazing is that Blowup came out just a year after Roman Polanski's black-and-white classic Repulsion — a film whose meaning also depends on the eyeline of its lead female character in a photograph, and what she sees or does not see. But while Polanski's film seems to have taken place forty years ago, Antonioni's could be set today, save for a few costumes and hairstyles. Coincidentally, the Blowup cinematographer was Carlo Di Palma, who later became a frequent Woody Allen collaborator. Di Palma helps Antonioni exquisitely frame each shot with his trademark odd angles. Also, there is...
- 3/14/2011
- by Dan Schneider
- Alt Film Guide
Blowup (1966) Direction: Michelangelo Antonioni Cast: David Hemmings, Vanessa Redgrave, Sarah Miles, John Castle, Veruschka, Jane Birkin, Gillian Hills, Peter Bowles Screenplay: Michelangelo Antonioni, Tonino Guerra, Edward Bond Oscar Movies David Hemmings, Veruschka, Blowup By Dan Schneider of Cosmoetica: Made in Great Britain in 1966, the flat-out great Blowup was Michelangelo Antonioni's first English-language effort. "Inspired" by Argentinean writer Julio Cortazar's short story Las babas del diablo, Blowup was nominated for two Academy Awards: Best Direction and Best Original Screenplay (Antonioni, Tonino Guerra, and Edward Bond), in addition to winning the Palme d'Or at Cannes and the National Society of Film Critics' Best Film Award. Having first seen the two Hollywood films most influenced by Blowup, Francis Ford Coppola's The Conversation (1974) and Brian De Palma's Blowout (1981), I did not know quite what to expect since the former is an excellent film — arguably, Coppola's best — and the latter is...
- 3/13/2011
- by Dan Schneider
- Alt Film Guide
"Beat Girl" is the 1959 British indie film about late-fifties youth-rebellion, introducing actress Gillian Hills, who followed up with small roles in "Blowup" and "A Clockwork Orange.
The music was by a 7-piece jazz group led by composer John Barry.
Barry, who would later be revered for his "James Bond" soundtracks, was managing singer Adam Faith at the time. Barry's music for the film became the first movie soundtrack LP to be released in the UK.
"Beat Girl" was released in North America under the title "Wild for Kicks", featuring additional stripper scenes not in the British version, that was banned at the time, as well as additional music not on the soundtrack LP.
Thanks to SneakPeekTV, you can watch the entire "Beat Girl" feature below...
The music was by a 7-piece jazz group led by composer John Barry.
Barry, who would later be revered for his "James Bond" soundtracks, was managing singer Adam Faith at the time. Barry's music for the film became the first movie soundtrack LP to be released in the UK.
"Beat Girl" was released in North America under the title "Wild for Kicks", featuring additional stripper scenes not in the British version, that was banned at the time, as well as additional music not on the soundtrack LP.
Thanks to SneakPeekTV, you can watch the entire "Beat Girl" feature below...
- 12/14/2009
- by Michael Stevens
- SneakPeek
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