I thought this was the first time someone tried to adapt H.P. Lovecraft to film, but it turns out it followed The Haunted Palace, which I did see (and it was released in 1963, before I was born). This one I haven’t. It’s a British production featuring Boris Karloff in the twilight of his life, and it’s supposed to be pretty ooky. I am fascinated with how various filmmakers approached Lovecraft’s singularly odd prose, especially with practical special effects, and I’m intrigued to see how this adaptation of ‘The Color Out of Space’ was handled.
THE IPCRESS FILES
There were three things I grew up on as a little kid: monster movies, comic books and spy culture...so expect a lot of spy movies in the next few years’ choices. This is the first film featuring Michael Caine as the hero of Len Deighton’s spy thrillers--the character is unnamed in the books, but the series names him Harry Palmer. While the third film in the series, The Billion Dollar Brain, is readily available (I’ve seen it twice), the first two are relatively hard to find. I’ve never seen this one, and I’ve liked what I’ve seen of Harry Palmer so far, so I’d like to see where it all began.
Robert Sheckley was a science fiction writer who had a wickedly good sense of humor. This is the first film to adapt one of his works, a tale of a world where war has been replaced by a reality TV show where people hunt each other. Not surprisingly, this was given a kind of spy-culure-y spin by Elio Petri. It features Ursula Andress, who wears a gun-loaded bra and at one point engages in a weird sexy dance. It sure is...60‘s. This appeals to my spy culture affinity, as well as my fondness for Sheckley’s prose.
Here’s another of my blind spots....I have never seen a Russ Meyers film. As a man who portrays a guru of Grindhouse Cinema on The Honeywell Experiment, I recognize how ashamed I should be of this. I plan of rectifying this, and the Movies of My Life Project can be the excuse for me to do so. And if I’m going to start with one, I might as well start with one of the most famous of his works, featuring one of the most famous of his muses, Tura Santana. In an inversion of the poll for last year, this is the only film shot in black and white.
You have one week to head over to my Twitter Page and make your choice. I will report in on the winner sometime over Thanksgiving weekend.
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