| Intl. Notebook | Mar 22 2018 |
Clearly they have consent issues.
Monsters may be horrible but you can't fault their taste. To borrow a line from one of their number, they're automatically attracted to beautiful. It's like a magnet. We wonder if it's possible their need is an unconscious manifestation of the id of male Hollywood screenwriters. Or were the writers deliberately making commentaries about male power, nuclear paranoia, and environmental degradation? Well, those are questions for smarter people than us. We take monsters at face value. Maybe that's not what we mean—some don't even have proper faces. What we mean is we judge them as individuals. Most monsters are direct, like Pongo, above, trying to impress Maris Wrixon in the 1945 movie White Pongo, while some, on the other claw, are more circumspect. But the language barrier usually sabotages their delicate efforts. “I know an independently owned café that serves a killer macchiato,” comes out as a series of glottal grunts. “I loved La La Land too and I think the naysayers are mainly joyless jazz purists,” comes out as a sustained sodden hiss. Even if these vocalizations could give a true indication of the inner depths of a monster's personality, women generally wouldn't give them a shot anyway, because despite what they say, looks really do matter. What's a monster to do?
This Island Earth, with Faith Domergue.
The Time Machine, with Yvette Mimieux.
Creature from the Black Lagoon, with Julie Adams.
The Alligator People, with Beverly Garland.
The Man from Planet X, with Margaret Field.
Robot Monster, with Claudia Barrett.
The Beach Girls and the Monster, with Sue Casey.
The Monster of Piedras Blancas, with Jeanne Carmen.
The Day of the Triffids, with Janette Scott.
It! the Terror from Beyond Space, with Shirley Patterson.
I Walked with a Zombie, with Christine Gordon.
From Hell It Came.
I Was a Teenage Werewolf, with Dawn Richard.
It Conquered the World, with Beverly Garland again crushing a monster's hopes for love and fulfillment.
El retorno del Hombre Lobo, aka Night of the Werewolf.
Empire of the Ants, with Joan Collins.
I Married a Monster from Outer Space, with Gloria Talbott.
The Wolf Man, with Evelyn Ankers.Maris WrixonEvelyn AnkersGloria TalbottJoan CollinsBeverly GarlandDawn RichardChristine GordonShirley PattersonJanette ScottJeanne CarmenSue CaseyClaudia BarrettBeverly GarlandMargaret FieldYvette MimieuxJulie AdamsFaith Domerguecinemasci-fi
| Vintage Pulp | Feb 8 2017 |
Three great artists try to get the feel of an identical pose.
Today we thought we'd illustrate the imitative nature of commercial art by sharing a nice Italian poster for the comedy Tre femmine in soffitta. Originally released in the U.S. in 1968 as Three in the Attic, and starring Yvette Mimieux and Judy Pace, the movie involves a wacky love triangle, and is notable for its breezy interracial theme, as Mimieux, who is white (and hot), and Pace, who is black (and hot), both get involved with the same inordinately lucky guy.Turning to the art, the figure at the poster's far right, which represents Pace, is a direct copy of one of our favorite Robert McGinnis femmes fatales, the girl on Carter Brown's 1960 novel The Bombshell, who has an unusual fascination with her own butt. Clearly, some imitation is more blatant than others. The poster was painted by Ezio Tarantelli, who had a nice career as an illustrator, particularly in the spaghetti western genre, and whose work on the poster for L’Amore Scotta a Yokohama we lavishly praised several years back. We may have to downgrade the genius label we slapped on him, but obviously he still shows great skill, copied butt grabber or not.
As if Tarantelli's pass at a McGinnis ass wasn't enough, we found another copy of the same pose, executed by another Italian artist, this time the great Mario de Berardinis. His piece promotes the 1975 erotic comedy La nottata, or “The Night,” which starred Sara Sperati and Susanna Javicoli. Did de Berardinis imitate Tarantelli or McGinnis? We don't know, but he truly was a genius, so copying is officially forgiven. You can see our original write-up on The Bombshell here.
ItalyTre femmine in soffittaThree in the AtticLa nottataEzio TarantelliJudy PaceYvette MimieuxCarter BrownRobert McGinnisMario de Berardiniscover artposter artcinema
| Vintage Pulp | Mar 16 2015 |
This trip sucks! Next time let’s just pay extra for first class!
The Mercenaries, aka Dark of the Sun isn’t a movie many remember, but we’re going to remember it, because this is a great pre-CGI action film—not perfect, but well above average. Based on Wilbur Smith’s novel Train from Katanga, and starring Rod Taylor, Jim Brown, Peter Carsten, and Yvette Mimieux, it tells the story of two mercenaries in the civil war-torn Congo hired to ride a military train upcountry, rescue a group of stranded people, and retrieve $50 million in uncut diamonds languishing in a time-locked safe. They have to do it within three days, which means making rushed preparations—notably, enlisting the aid of a dodgy ex-Nazi who commands the Congolese mercs needed to round out the mission. This Nazi is a really bad human, so it’s no surprise he gets into a chainsaw fight with the protagonist shortly after they meet. You’d think the hero would expect the unexpected from the guy after that—but no. The Japanese poster above, while not perfectly descriptive of the action, gets the mood of The Mercenaries across effectively, and it opened in Japan today in 1968.
JapanCongoMetro-Goldwyn-MayerTrain From KatangaThe MercenariesDark of the SunRod TaylorJim BrownYvette MimieuxWilbur SmithPeter Carstennazisposter artcinemamovie review
| Femmes Fatales | Aug 9 2013 |
Her name may be French, but she’s 100% L.A.
Yvette Mimieux is a rarity, an actress who was actually born in Los Angeles. That fact gave her the advantage of starting in show business early. She debuted on television in 1958 at age sixteen, and came to wide notice playing Weena in the 1960 cinematic adaptation of H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine. Later the same year she appeared in Where the Boys Are, a film that’s iconic not only because it was among the first teenage Spring Break movies, but because it provided perhaps the most famous title in the history of lesbian porn—Where the Boys Aren’t, a series that currently stands at nineteen iterations. Mimieux’s film career after 1963 was marked by many commercial disappointments, and she eventually focused once more on television, where she worked until 1992. This luminous shot dates from 1965.
| Intl. Notebook | Jun 21 2013 |
The year’s longest day in a season that’s always too short.
In some places the weather is warm every day, pretty much, but in others, warmth is a fleeting gift. Regardless of where you are, we are officially at the beginning of summer, with the solstice arriving today or tomorrow, depending on your time zone. So we’ve decided to pull together some summery promo pix. These are from Japanese magazines and feature stars who were most famous during the 1950s and 1960s, including Raquel Welch, Ursula Andress, Yvette Mimieux, and others. You can similar summer collections from previous years here and here.
JapanJaqueline BisssetJoanna ShimkusJane BirkinUrsula AndressBrigitte BardotRaquel WelchMarlène JobertKatia ChristinaYuko AsanoClaudia CardinaleSylva KoscinaBarbara BouchetYvette Mimieux
| Intl. Notebook | Nov 9 2010 |
The hand that first held mine.
Midnight published today in 1964, with cover star Yvette Mimieux asking who wants to make love to her. Before we answer we’d like to know what the fist is for.
| Vintage Pulp | Mar 30 2010 |
Living on Tokyo time.
Assorted frolicsome images from Japanese celeb magazines, with “Sharlon” Tate in panel four and Sylva Koscina in panel eleven.
JapanSharon TateBarbara BouchetSylva KoscinaVictoria VetriClaudia CardinaleElsa MartinelliRomina PowerGila GolanMarie-France BoyerYvette MimieuxJanine GrayMichele MercierSusanne BentonMireille DarcJaqueline SassardMylène DemongeotGina LollobrigidaAnita EkbergYvonne CraigAudrey HepburnPamela Sue Martinsex symbol
