Christopher Lee and Jesus Franco in Hammer Horror Forum

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Christopher Lee and Jesus Franco

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jamesbrummel	Christopher Lee and Jesus Franco	Lead	[-]
Jan 31 12 4:07 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I just thought about Lee being in a bunch of Jess Franco films and had this image of him writhing around in a bath tub full of red wine for 20 minutes. At ease.
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Helrunar		#1	[-]
Jan 31 12 10:23 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I heard that Lee signed the contract to do those Franco things because he was promised that he would finally get to do a version of Dracula that followed the Stoker novel faithfully. The result was el Conde Dracula. I never did hear whether Lee thought what he got to do was worth enduring the other stuff Franco talked him into. James your image of the saturnine Chris Lee of the Sixties writhing around in a bathtub full of red wine sounds like kinky, but unlikely fun. H.
DonM435		#2	[-]
Feb 1 12 6:31 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I watched the Franco Dracula a couple of weeks ago, and it wasn't quite so bad as I had remembered. Well, a bit too much zoom lens, of course, but I think that if they replaced the awful musical score, it might be passable.
Krick Wurkheiser		#3	[-]
Feb 1 12 7:15 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Helrunar wrote: James your image of the saturnine Chris Lee of the Sixties writhing around in a bathtub full of red wine sounds like kinky, but unlikely fun. Seconded! Haha
Krick Wurkheiser		#4	[-]
Feb 1 12 7:17 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Sounds like a job for someone, Don. Someone with more skills than I possess.
Gojira		#5	[-]
Feb 4 12 6:59 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Franco's Fu Manchus are pretty awful, but his Eugenie...The Story of Her Journey Into Perversion, which has Lee in it, is a fantastic movie.
pulp novelties		#6	[-]
Feb 7 12 7:49 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	DonM435 wrote: I watched the Franco Dracula a couple of weeks ago, and it wasn't quite so bad as I had remembered. Well, a bit too much zoom lens, of course, but I think that if they replaced the awful musical score, it might be passable. Oh no! I love that score. Bruno Nicolai is probably my most beloved Euro composer, and that's my favorite of his scores, and the one that got me collecting his soundtracks (some to films I've never seen). I've always felt it's one of the few things that give the film any real character. I actually kind of like the Franco's Dracula for all its slap-dash zooming and day-for-night photography. BLOODY JUDGE and and EUGEINE DE SADE are also interesting, and also have notable Nicolai scores. Producer Harry Allan Towers may have had more to do with contracting Lee than Franco, all three films feature Tower's wife, the underrated Maria Rohm as well. Last Edited By: pulp novelties Feb 7 12 7:51 PM. Edited 1 times.
Jameson281		#7	[-]
Feb 7 12 8:50 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Personally, I find Franco's COUNT DRACULA to be excruciatingly awful, without a single redeeming feature. Franco's two Fu Manchus and THE BLOODY JUDGE are dreadful as well. Haven't seen EUGENE LEVY: THE STORY OF HIS JOURNEY INTO PERVERSION (or whatever it's called) and have no intention of seeking it out.
pulp novelties		#8	[-]
Feb 7 12 9:03 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Not a Franco fan I guess
Gojira		#9	[-]
Feb 7 12 9:40 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	THE BLOODY JUDGE isn't bad. It's got great performances from Lee, Leo Genn and Howard Vernon. The main problem is the truly excruciating voice they dubbed the Satchell character with - and to a lesser extent, the futile attempt to pass off a Spanish hacienda as The Old Bailey.
jamesbrummel		#10	[-]
Feb 7 12 10:34 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Gemidos a Plaisir is amazing. I don't care for the story, but it is shot in 30-40 long takes, some of them are so elegant and lyrical and shocking all at the same time, amazing. Too bad it's kind of a cheesy sex film story. But the style is incredible.
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Rick		#11	[-]
Feb 8 12 3:17 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	THE BLOODY JUDGE isn't bad. Oh, I guess not. The problem is, that's about the best I can say for any Franco film -- "it's not bad." Which I guess is a compliment for a man who's made a career out of making films that are bad.
pulp novelties		#12	[-]
Feb 8 12 4:42 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Rick wrote: THE BLOODY JUDGE isn't bad. Oh, I guess not. The problem is, that's about the best I can say for any Franco film -- "it's not bad." Which I guess is a compliment for a man who's made a career out of making films that are bad. Now, I love Tim Lucas' writing and have always been a Video Watchdog reader, but I do think he is occasionally a Franco apologist, giving credence to Franco films that I just can't extend any benefit of the doubt to. However, by the same token his enthusiasm has won me over into being a partial Francofile. I do actually see Franco's style as something akin to compulsive "jazz" film-making. Franco proved earlier in his career that he could make a film has visually compelling as his Euro-horror contemporaries. I'd say that DIABOLICAL DR. Z, AWFUL DR. ORLOF, & DR. ORLOFF'S MONSTER are atmospheric and well-realized in the traditional sense. Franco's SUCCUBUS, VENUS IN FURS, EUGEINE DE SADE, VAMPIROS LESBOS are also intriguing in the way they dance the line between art, fever-dream and horror.
Rick		#13	[-]
Feb 8 12 4:46 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Oh, I love Tim Lucas' stuff, too. And it's certainly thanks to him that I continue to hold out some hope for Franco, and that I continue to catch up with his movies. But neither Tim nor Franco has even slightly won me over. I guess I've seen 30 or 40 of Franco's films, and "not bad" is still as far as I'll go for the very best of 'em.
Wes		#14	[-]
Feb 8 12 7:48 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Yeah, I tend to wax and wane with Franco, depending on the last film of his I saw... I was really impressed with the fever-dream Lorna the Exorcist, but more recently I caught Devil Hunter a film which mines new depths of awfulness... With Franco though I will quite readily sit down and watch any of his films that come my way, whereas I find Jean Rollin decidedly more difficult. I've tried to warm up to his films but I'm just not there yet... check out my blog - plutoniumshores.blogspot.com
pulp novelties		#15	[-]
Feb 8 12 3:38 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Wes wrote: I find Jean Rollin decidedly more difficult. I've tried to warm up to his films but I'm just not there yet... I can see that, I really liked THE IRON ROSE, but even that's not for those lacking in patience. I took in SHIVER OF THE VAMPIRES the other night and found it mostly trying, but punctuated with some neat touches nonetheless. Last Edited By: pulp novelties Feb 8 12 3:54 PM. Edited 1 times.
Gojira		#16	[-]
Feb 8 12 5:36 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	A lot of these Euro horrors suffer from wanting to be all "arty" when they are much better off making pulp fun. Franco's early 60s pix certainly are much more conventional horrors but that's what the viewer really wants, not just Lina Romay humping a bed post.
Helrunar		#17	[-]
Feb 8 12 9:28 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	The only Franco film (to date) I have really enjoyed is The Girl from Rio, aka a zillion other titles (I saw a totally whacked out trailer for it on Youtube at one point bearing a title something like "Mothers of America"... I still wonder if I hallucinated that thing). I don't think Franco himself has much to do with what I like about it--it's the camp set and costume designs and the "delirium" (as the French would have said back in the old Cahier du cinema days) of Shirley Eaton's deliciously earnest performance. Great score too, as I recall. I couldn't believe how gorgeous it looked in the DVD restoration. I don't think Franco's films ever looked that good way back when. Haven't seen Eugenie. I had the disc of the Bloody Judge but couldn't get through it so gave it away. I saw it on TV long, long ago... H.
pulp novelties		#18	[-]
Feb 8 12 10:26 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Gojira wrote: A lot of these Euro horrors suffer from wanting to be all "arty" when they are much better off making pulp fun. Franco's early 60s pix certainly are much more conventional horrors but that's what the viewer really wants, not just Lina Romay humping a bed post. Franco got a lot of mileage out of Lina Romay humping a bed post. I actually think Rollin is sincere in his art, and Franco is more obsessive/compulsive, but frequently just as sincere. I find both approaches valid, and certainly there's room for artsy horror too. Everyone has their tastes, being that this is the Hammer folder, I think it's fair to say that there are plenty of boring Hammer films that are long on talk and short on thrills. Yet, I like them too.
Rick		#19	[-]
Feb 9 12 1:53 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I've seen about half a dozen of Rollin's films now. The first three or four bored me, the last two or three I've kind of enjoyed. I'm not sure if I just got luckier in which ones I saw, or if I eventually started to "get" Rollin.
Ted Newsom		#20	[-]
Feb 9 12 2:25 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Jameson281 wrote: Personally, I find Franco's COUNT DRACULA to be excruciatingly awful, without a single redeeming feature. Franco's two Fu Manchus and THE BLOODY JUDGE are dreadful as well. Haven't seen EUGENE LEVY: THE STORY OF HIS JOURNEY INTO PERVERSION (or whatever it's called) and have no intention of seeking it out. You're missing a bet.
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Christopher Lee and Jesus Franco

Christopher Lee and Jesus Franco