Friday, 12 July 2013

movies for rainy days and holidays

 STEAMPUNK RETRO MOVIE REVIVAL


 with winter weather setting in and the school holidays upon us  it is time to resurrect the retro classics


 Have some  stormy night  horror and  rainy day fun with  uproarious humour


Many of these and other superb titles feature  the late  Terry Thomas  and or the late ( or is he??) Vincent Price. 

Ignore warnings otherwise, all are available somewhere online. Check out the trailers below.


   Munsters Go Home!  1966

Herman Munster inherits a title and ancient hall in England with  hidden secrets, the family travel by ship to the Old Country  where disgruntled  relatives are not happy at being displaced.

Thwarted young love prevails, Marilyn has a shipboard romance with a young man whose family have a long standing feud with hers. Haunted castles,  family secrets,  car chase, tortured love. Who could ask for more




 Picnic at Hanging Rock 1975

 "A Valentine’s Day picnic at an ancient volcanic outcropping turns to disaster for the residents of Mrs. Appleyard’s school when a few young girls inexplicably vanish on Hanging Rock."

Set in 1900 3 young ladies go missing  never to be see again at a landmark steeped in history and mysterious happenings. The lone survivors return disheveled, shocked and have no memory of the incident. Heaving corsets and suppressed sensuality .

When 1st released in the 70s many believed it to be a true story.




 The Abominable Dr Phibes 1971

The horribly  disfigured genius Dr Phibes ( Vincent Price), believed killed in a car crash  in 1925, comes back to wreak vengeance on the doctors he is convinced let his wife die. He follows out  his vendetta with  beautiful but mute assistant  Vulnavia, to use methods based on the  Old Testament 10 plagues that  befell Egypt.


 

 Dr Phibes Rises again 1972

Dr Phibes rises again to discover his home destroyed  Scrolls of Life have been stolen. In an effort to resurrect his wife Victoria  he and Vulnavia hunt down the thieves who stole his Scrolls




 Bugsy Malone 1976

 Set in Prohibition era  USA,  a child cast including Scott Baio and Jodie Foster , recreate the world of gangsters and speak easies of the 30s. Great for children of all ages. There are memorable toe tapping songs and  machine gun foam fights as Fat Sam and Dandy Dan fight over downtown and dames. My name is Tallulah .....




    Barbarella

Based on an old cartoon strip and set in 40 000 , Barbarella  ( a young Jane Fonda)  has to find the subversive scientist Duran Duran  and save the world  from his Positronic Ray  that threatens the Universal Peace that has reigned on Earth for millennium. There are many " adventures " along the way with a excessive pleasure machine, murderous feral children, hirsute warriors and the Great Tyrant Of Sogo (Anita Pallenberg  former paramour of Keith Richards).   Contains adult themes and near nudity.


 



    Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger 1977

Sinbad the Sailor  and Prince of Bagdad  sets sail to Charak seeking permission from Prince Kassim to marry his sister Princess Farrah ( Jayne Seymour). Alas their evil stepmother Zenobia has other ideas and turns Kassim to a baboon. Sinbad and Farrah set off to find the Hermit of Casgar.  This leads to much  cutlass fighting on the high seas and magical spells.  A highlight of this movie is the stop motion animated creatures. There is a a wonderful series of Sinbad movies stretching the imagination back to early cinema.


                                        



 The Three Musketeers 1973

 Young D'Artagnan travels to Paris with big dreams of becoming a King's Musketeer. On the way he crosses path with the 3 musketeers and deeply causes offense which leads them to challenge him to a duel of honour. He is saved by the distraction of the guards of the evil  Cardinal Richelieu and aids the musketeers to extricate themselves from their fate.  

All four embark on a merry romp to thwart Richelieu's hellish hold on the King, save the Queen and retrieve jewels gifted to her paramour  Duke of Buckingham before the King finds them missing.  Much sword fighting  and carousing  ensues.

 



Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines 1965

Sufferagette daughter  of a news paper magnate, forbidden to fly herself persuades him to sponsor an air race  from London to Paris in 1910.  "Intrepid Birdmen"  from all corners of the globe come to compete.  A love triangle inevitably develops. Daring do and nefarious characters abound as international rivalries  heat up to  a hilarious  hot-air balloon  duel


"The trouble with these international affairs is that they attract foreigners"




Those Daring Young Men in Their Jaunty Jalopies

(a.k.a Monte Carlo or Bust )1969

Based  on the Monte Carlo Rally and set in c1920s. An epic car rally adventure accross Europe.

Arch rivals from all over Europe find their  greatest competition from across the Atlantic as Chester ( Tony Curtis ) owner of half an automobile factory won in a card game from  the late father of the Baronet ( Terry Thomas) who is  bent on winner take all vengeance to  gain back  the lost  half of the company. 

 An all star cast  of eccentrics and villains create great havoc and commotion with the Italian police, French women doctors, Mother Nature, convicts and stolen gems.  

 The biggest loser of the day is male chauvinism.





  School for Scoundrels  1960

"or How to Win Without Actually Cheating!"

An amusing satire of the British class system. Inspired by the book series of "gamesmanship" by Stephen Potter, School for Scoundrels  has poor rich boy Henry  fed up with being downtrodden and ripped off. He joins a class  at the School of Lifemanship and is determined to get life's upper hand

Lovely April Smith, the object of his affections is being swiftly seduced away from him. Henry with the assistance of his tutor sets out to defeat his rivals in life and love. 

His lessons take him to battles on  the  car lot, the work place, to the tennis court and on wards to the biggest life lessons of all.




 Ginger Meggs 1982

Little Aussie larrikin of the comic strip in the 1920s made into a movie. A 10yr boy's misadventures and mayhem in a small  Australian townThere is a love rival for the heart of Minnie Peters , Eddie Coogan and a big bully Tiger Kelly and his gang. Angry teachers, exasperated parents and a town in pre teen turmoil.




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