Bitter Cinema

Bitter Cinema on Tumblr

A sister site, if you will… a bit easier to update and post for the time being. This particular site is not dead by a long shot, but longer form thrills and chills may not be on hand for the foreseeable future, and even then, the subject matter and main thrust of the site may be something completely different than what’s been here for more than eight years. We shall see, won’t we?

But, if you’ve liked the grab-bag aesthetic of pics, movie posters, odd juxtapositions, check out http://bittercinema.tumblr.com. Maybe you’ll even like some of it…

First Time on TV!

Promo for NBC’s world premiere of Kubrick’s 2001 in 1977, a film only nine years old at the time. I remember seeing this broadcast (it was an NBC “Big Event“). I also remember the Nielsen ratings for it not being so hot.

Der Verlorene

Cover of the pressbook for Peter Lorre’s first and only directing  job (and return to German cinema) , Der Verlorene. The film was also based on a novel Lorre himself wrote. After the movie bombed in West Germany, Lorre was despondent and thereafter strictly did movies for the paycheck.

Via Vade Retro Me Satana

IMDB

Senses of Cinema

Voyage to the End of the Universe

A promo still of the AIP butchered version of the Czech Ikarie XB1.

I remember the dubbed version from Saturday afternoon TV.  I also remember Phillip Strick’s glowing review in Science Fiction Movies (one of my seminal texts, as it were), and likening the faces of the film to Kelly Freas artwork. Then I saw the original Czech version on the big screen and really liked it. Serious SF films of this vintage are certainly rare, although not as much as in the old Warsaw Pact.

IMDB

DVD Savant

Teleport City

Image via The Humanoid

Silvia Pasquel in El Santo Contra Blue Demon en la Atlantida

The daughter of Silvia Pinal and now an icon of Mexican television, but never lovelier than her turn as Juno in El Santo Contra Blue Demon en la Atlantida (1969).

Wiki (Silvia)

IMDB (the movie)

Hanyo

From Kim Ki-Young’s Hanyo (The Housemaid). More on this brilliant Korean psychodrama soon… See the feature in its entirety FREE at The Auteurs.

Fantastic Science Fiction Thriller!

IMDB

Wiki

Batman Victorious

A simple frame grab…

Naked England

Now, for something completely mondo…  “Legalized Drugging… The Strippers Moral Tutor… nude psychotherapy… Trepanation… Masochist’s Delight… Nazi Restaurant… Women’s Wreastling…” Only in England, backed by the cool jerk sounds of  Piero Piccioni, some tunes seemingly borrowed from Fumo di Londra (great soundtrack!).

For the curious, some excerpts can be found on YouTube: here, here, here, and here (in beautiful Italian).

The Naked Bunyip

From Wikipedia: The bunyip (usually translated as “devil” or “spirit”) is a mythical creature from Australian folklore.

Just based on the trailer, it looks like an Australian version of a mondo pseudo-documentary, but it’s often heralded as the first splash of the new wave of Australian cinema in the 1970s.

IMDB

The Genesis of The Naked Bunyip (Senses of Cinema)

The Naked Bunyap’s censorship history (from Refused Classification, a guide to censorship in Australia)