We didn't watch anything whilst we were away in August and latterly have been watching TV series (principally True Blood -excellent) but have managed a few films of late.
Frauleins in Uniform (1975)
The story
German girls do their bit for the war effort by "entertaining" the troops on the Russian front.
Seen it before?
No, this was the first time.
Shower scene!
Nazi striptease party!
Girls on manoeuvres!
Any good?
Originally titled Eine Armee Gretchen (and also known as She Devils of the SS) this German film is similar, at first glance, to the Nazi sex and horror exploitation films churned out by the Italians in the seventies. Whilst it has plenty of sex and nudity it, thankfully, eschews the nastiness and at times resembles a X-rated episode of Benny Hill. All the actresses take off their clothes and all the men keep their trousers on during simulated sex. We get many examples of prototypical scenes from the genre: a group shower scene (of course), several lesbian trysts, a striptease, stripping for a medical inspection and, most bizarrely, running naked from captivity whilst really large and dangerous looking explosions go off.
Not a bad way to spend an evening's viewing with a nice bottle of Rheinpfalz.
The lovely Karin Heske and, look, real Russian T34/85s!
Notable for...
Surprising veracity in the portrayal of correct uniforms, weapons and vehicles. It puts many conventional WW2 films to shame in this regards
Is this the best naked girls in a church scene in the history of cinema?
Any good girlies?
Lots of them! All of them quite splendid too! If we had to pick one, however, it would be the gorgeous Karin Heske.
Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines (1965)
The story
An American and British pilot both try to win the same girl whilst competing in a London to Paris air race in the early years of flight.
Seen it before?
This is another film that was a staple of Triple P's Saturday afternoons when he was younger but we haven't seen it for some time.
Any good?
It holds up surprisingly well although much of the pleasure comes from seeing a host of chracter actors going through their paces, the real aircraft built especially for the film and Christopher Challis' luminous photography. Not quite as funny as it thinks it is, it is still a pleasure to watch a cast that includes James Fox, Robert Morley, Gert (Goldfinger) Frobe, Eric Sykes, Terry-Thomas (marvellous), Benny Hill, Flora Robson, John LeMesurier, Millicent Martin, Tony Hancock. and many others. The miraculous cast is full of walk-on surprises (Cicely Coutneidge and Month Python's Graham Chapman to name but two).
Dastardly and Muttley
Notable for...
Terry-Thomas' (in a film stealing performance) character being the inspiration for Dick Dastardly from the series of Hanna-Barbera cartoons originally starting with Wacky Races (1968) with Eric Sykes's "Muttley" delighting everytime his master's plans go wrong. Ron Goodwin's well known theme music.
Irene Demick is painted by John LeMesurier
Any good girlies?
Leading lady Sarah Miles is quite cute but miscast so the honours have to go to French actress Irena Demick who plays multiple parts as a series of girls from various countries.
Red Sonja (1985)
The story
Girl whose sister is killed by an evil Queen must avenge her sister and save the world from an out of control crystal.
Seen it before?
We have seen this once before on TV.
Any good?
Even given the constraints of sword and sorcery films it is only OK but does have some striking set and costume design from Danilo (Flash Gordon) Donati and Ronald Lacey riding his brief world-wide fame from Raiders of the Lost Ark. It could have been a lot better and even Arnold Schwarzenegger reckons it's the worst film he ever made; which is saying something. The problem is it suffers with an excess of "comic" relief as director Richard Fleischer (who also helmed the inferior Conan the Barbarian (1982) sequel Conan the Destroyer (1984)) isn't quite sure how to pitch the tone of the film. Not a bad soundtrack from Ennio Morricone either and the Italian scenery looks great.
Notable for...
The first film appearance by Danish model and later Mrs Sylvester Stallone, Brigitte Nielsen, as Sonja.
Oh happy horse to bear the weight of Brigitte...
Any good girlies?
Sandahl Bergman chews the scenery as the evil Gedren but the film is really all about Nielsen and, in particular, the way her incredible leg muscles flex. We could watch her just climbing things for hours! Nielsen, before she became a physical parody of herself, never looks anything other than completely gorgeous and handles herself brilliantly in the fight scenes.
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