Hollywoodland | Apr 6 2013 |
Below are the covers of some promotional brochures made by Illustrierte Film-Bühne for movies released in West Germany during the 1950s and 1960s. The examples here, some of which have killer designs, feature Elizabeth Taylor, Marisa Mell, Cary Grant, Virna Lisi, Sophia Loren, Doris Day, Tony Curtis, et.al. IFB was founded in 1946 in Munich by Paul Franke, and over the years produced thousands of these pamphlets. We’ll share more later.
Vintage Pulp | May 4 2012 |
This evocative poster is for the 1975 thriller Perversione, which was originally made in Spain as La encadenada, and for its U.S. release was retitled Diary of a Murderess, or Diary of an Erotic Murderess. Spoiler alert: there’s a murderess in this film. Marisa Mell is nurse to a rich widower’s mentally disturbed son, but she turns out to be a grifter intent on liberating some of the family knick-knacks. She's especially covetous of an antique chalice that resides in a safe. At some point, she finds a diary left behind by the widower’s dead wife, and in its pages the departed plots the murder of her husband, writing her plan in helpful step-by-step detail. Mell decides follow the diary’s instructions, all the better to get hold of that chalice.
But nothing is as it seems here. The chalice is actually the Holy Grail, Mell has actually failed to ditch her terrible husband, and a few other surprises pop up to keep viewers guessing. Director Manuel Mur Oti has crafted an atmospheric piece here, but we recommend it for giallo fans only, because it’s a bit slow off the starting line. Also, we suggest watching the original version, because we’ve heard that the American cut is several minutes short on nudity. It may not matter though, because the movie may be impossible to find. We located our copy online, but the links have since died. Not that we’re recommending any illegal downloading. Us? Never. Perversione premiered in Italy today in 1975. Below, just because we can, we’ve posted an image of Mell at her lovely best, and you can see another one of great interest here.
Vintage Pulp | Oct 19 2011 |
Above, a poster for the Italian giallo Diabolicamente sole con il delitto, also known as Nell buio del terrore, and retitled The Great Swindle for its U.S. release. The movie stars two of the great giallo icons, Marisa Mell and Sylva Koscina, both of whom died prematurely from cancer. You can’t say either of them was ever in a truly great movie, but both graced several cult classics and they shine in this potboiler as lesbian lovers whose relationship is complicated when one of them marries a man. There’s much more to the plot, but when you get Jordan and Gretzky on the same team, why pay attention to anything else? Good for a laugh, and some minimal thrills, Diabolicamente sole con il delitto premiered in 1971. See more Mell here, and more Koscina here.
Vintage Pulp | May 25 2011 |
Today we have another issue of the post-pulp magazine Adam, filled with its usual offerings—adventure fiction, ads for dubious products and services, assorted cartoons with racist tropes, and of course a selection of nude and semi-nude models. Also, of special note is the final page, which features a nice handout shot of Austrian actress Marisa Mell. Of the ninety pages in this issue we’ve shared about thirty. We’d post more but then the website would take forever to load, and that’s no fun for anybody. One of these days, though, perhaps we’ll go back and mine these magazines for more imagery. In the meantime enjoy the pages below. It was all published this month in 1973.
Vintage Pulp | Apr 25 2010 |
German poster for Mario Bava’s 1968 camp masterpiece Diabolik. We’re a little surprised how few people actually get this film, which pushed the swinging sixties thriller to its illogical extreme. The lead character—played by John Phillip Law—was a thief, and a rather Machiavellian one at that, who didn’t mind innocent people getting hurt if it meant more profit. Sounds a bit like a Goldman Sachs executive, right? But where investment bankers are typically balding math majors pretending to be swashbucklers of high finance, Diabolik was 100% stud, complete with a secret identity, a high tech underground lair, and a female sidekick always ready for some down and dirty. We recommend you check this one out next time you’re in the mood for a laugh. Diabolik premiered in West Germany today in 1968.
Vintage Pulp | Aug 15 2009 |
This poster for Una sull’altra, aka Perversion Story, was painted by Angelo Cesselon, and the film was directed by Lucio Fulci, who would later become one of Italy’s grandmasters of cinematic gore. This flick is eerily similar in plot to Vertigo, complete with the death of the love interest and subsequent reappearance of her double. It’s even set in San Francisco like Vertigo, but the difference is Fulci notches the ’60s psychedelia up to the max, and offers up lots of Austrian actress Marisa Mell’s naked flesh. Mell had starred in the camp classic Diabolik the previous year, and here she is getting groovy again, particularly in one motorcycle striptease that’s probably worth the time spent watching the rest of the film. As a side note, you’ll see Jean Sobieski here, who happens to be Leelee Sobieski’s dad. Una sull’altra opened in Italy today in 1969.
Femmes Fatales | Jun 18 2009 |
Above, a rare promo photo of Austrian actress and sex symbol Marisa Mell, who starred in the all-time camp classic Diabolik. We don't know the year on this image, but we think it was around 1970.
Update: Right, well, we weren't close on the date. Below is a cover for the German magazine Neue Illustrierte Revue featuring the same shot dated December 1976, and we saw another frame from the session that was used in a November 1976 Playboy. So 1976 it is. Nice cover too.