| Vintage Pulp | May 8 2018 |
Two publishing houses take turns spicing up a classic.
We’ve mentioned a few times how classic literature often got the pulp treatment, and today we have a prime example. Emile Zola’s 1887 novel Pot-bouille was a satire of the French bourgeoisie, and in style it was probably not the sort of thing an average pulp reader would have appreciated. But more than a few of them must have been drawn to Avon’s 1948 version, re-titled Piping Hot and paired with eye-catching art by Ann Cantor. The book also got a pulp treatment from Pyramid in 1953 when they re-titled it Lesson in Love and copied Cantor’s petticoat and exposed leg theme but moved it to the boudoir. We don’t know who painted that cover, but if you want to see a couple more pieces from Cantor, try here.
| Vintage Pulp | Aug 5 2016 |
Someone in the sleeping compartment isn't going to wake up.
Film noir teaches us that anyone can get in too deep, even a railroad engineer. In Human Desire, Fritz Lang's retelling of Emile Zola's 1890 novel La Bête humaine, Glenn Ford finds himself trapped between lust for Gloria Grahame and reluctance to kill to have her. He's already helped her cover up another killing and gotten in the middle of blackmail plot, but every man has his limits. This is flawed but canonical noir, with a cocky Ford, a quirky Grahame, a brutish Broderick Crawford, and Kathleen Case playing the loyal gal pal, who for our money is much more alluring than Grahame. Ford figures that out too, eventually. Too bad his realization is sandwiched between two murders on his train. Human Desire premiered today in 1954.
La Bête humaineHuman DesireFritz LangEmile ZolaGlenn FordGloria GrahameKathleen CaseBroderick Crawfordposter artcinemafilm noirmovie review
| Vintage Pulp | Jul 7 2015 |
If you’re going to have an empty life, at least make it a beautiful one.
La poupée d’amour played in the U.S. by the silly title Take Me, Love Me, but was originally released in Sweden as Naná, after the Emile Zola novel from which it’s adapted. Director Mac Ahlberg and cinematographer Andréas Winding deserve credit for making the film look fantastic, star Anna Gaël is certainly beautiful, and the cabaret numbers are entertainingly staged, but on the whole we found this one a bit tedious. The movie is basically ’70s arthouse porn and, thanks to some coupling by Gaël’s body double, still qualifies today as adult cinema, but only barely. Zola’s Naná ended up covered with pustules and dying in agony; this movie wouldn’t dare harsh on its own groovy high to that extent, but Gaël does find happiness elusive, as do her lovers. If you watch the movie you may find enjoyment elusive, but in purely visual terms, it’s a real treat. The Belgian promo poster, also a treat, was painted by Loris, an illustrator whose online presence is small, which means we can’t tell you anything about him/her—not even a full name. But he/she did paint other nice promos, and we may dig some of those up later. La poupée d’amour premiered in France/Belgium today in 1970.
SwedenBelgiumFranceLa poupée d’amourNanáTake Me Love MeAnna GaëlLorisEmile ZolaMac AhlbergAndréas Windingposter artcinemamovie review
