Thank you so much for these most than desirable discoveries. I didn't know these movies. As you put it so aptly, Spain was a real fertile ground for vampires movies in the 1970's. But, sadly, probably for distribution and budget issues, a lot of these movies are unknown for a large audience of vampire movies goers. What I like in Spanish vampire movies of this era is the liberty movie directors took with classic themes in this kind of content. In many vampire movies made before, it was almost a man's world. Female characters being most often reduced to mere assistants to their master. In the excerpts you offer us in your video, the female characters occupy a full place. They act with much more freedom and define their own attack strategies when the time comes to feed. I also really like the dreamlike and surreal sequences of these films. They allow the viewer to enter a completely different world, fertile ground for all fantasies. And, in my opinion, this «extra-human» dimension is one of the sources of «the disturbing strangeness» (dixit Freud) and the seduction-repulsion relationship that invades us deliciously at the sight of these delirious scenes. So many journeys to the unreal that make us forget, at least temporarily, the heavy monotony of our daily life that sometimes assails us. These movies could be seen as «a dream within a dream», as Edgar Allan Poe would say.
Thank you. That is very eloquently put and sums up many of the things I also feel about this genre. I must confess that, in general, the most powerful figure in many of the Spanish horror films of this period is the male figure (usually played by Paul Naschy) and I might have hidden this by choosing clips that don't show that male figure at all. The sequences with the female vampires always seem more dreamlike and beautiful because they exist in a world where physical strength seems secondary to seductive and magical feminine forces. I also like the reference you make to Freud's essay on the 'unheimlich' (the only work of Freud's I ever read in full as I'm not much of an intellectual but I do love horror stories), that uncanny sense of something just a little off from our sense of what reality should be. As you say, it provides a counterpoint, a release from the concerns of our waking lives. It also connects us to a mythic world that modernity has detached us from. Something terrible and wonderful that our logical mind resists but which some deeper part of our psyche yearns for.
@@dreamsofprojectedlight In turn, let me thank you for answering me with such insight and depth. It is rather rare for video creators to bother. I see that you are a fine connoisseur of horror films in addition to having a solid general culture. It’s as much a pleasure to read you as it is to watch your videos. I look forward to watching your next content. Excellent day.
I really enjoy your edits and this one was especially nice. The music sets a nice mood for these. Love seeing Martine Beswick and Raquel and the others. Quite a change these sunny vistas from your usual goth (which I also enjoy a great deal). So much great material for you to work with from this era of film. Thank you for creating these enjoyable montages.
Thank you. And thanks for the support. To be honest, while I work very hard on these videos, I know that some videos will not reach that big an audience and do it anyway simply because I love the source material so much. I was pleased to see that the very different styles of movie cut together relatively well. 'Creatures the World Forgot', despite having the same director as 'One Million Years BC' feels like it came from a different era completely but I love them all and could watch any one of them on a loop without getting bored. Apart from 'Slave Girls', which deserves an HD version, they are all available now in pristine blu-rays with copious extras. I would never have believed we could live in such an age.
It's probably very doable. I can't remember if all the locations are specifically mentioned on the blu-ray commentaries and features but I do know that the beaches of Dieppe feature at some point in nearly all of his films and that is a very easy location to access. There's a ferry that goes there from Newhaven. Or, two hours by train from Paris.
When they cut the budget of Star Trek (due to declining ratings) it was down to around $120,000 an episode and they hardly ever left the studio. Meanwhile in England Department S was on a budget of around £25K an episode - a show that punched well above its weight.
Always. I have no idea how they managed to stretch a budget like that the way they did. I won't even attempt to speculate. But I was always struck by how much ITC shows looked like mini movies. Having said that, I'm sure that the endless repeats and syndication revenue from Star Trek made that $120,000 a mere drop in the ocean. Having said that, for the 60s that does seem a very generous budget for a single TV episode.
@@dreamsofprojectedlight ITC was a very slick operation, one of the things they always secured (which holds up some other old Brit shows being released) was copyright issues, for example in The Prisoner they got the rights for ever on 'all you need is love' by The Beatles, which was a triumph in the first place considering The Beatles rarely permitted their music elsewhere - let alone multiple screenings ever since.
@@Comfortzone99 I know that they were very careful, The Beatles that is, not to have their songs licensed for use in adverts the way so much other pop music was. I always thought that they might have made an exception because The Prisoner was so exceptional (and remains such). It wouldn't be surprising if Lew Grade was somehow involved.
I always think with this story, the one main "error" I notice every time I watch is in this extract: Steed loosely tucks the tracking pen quickly into cybernaut 2's overalls instigating its fight with cybernaut 1. After all that subsequent thwacking from both cybernauts, the winner is then able to take the pen from exactly where Steed placed it. How impossible would it be that it had stayed in place through all that? Cybernaut 2 (maintenance) has a pocket in its overalls, so Steed could have put it there instead and it MIGHT just have stayed in position through the fight. What a pity they didn't do that. I'm being very nitpicky, of course. It's a great episode in a great series, and any inconsistencies observed can and should be overlooked. :-)
This was originally in colour, so it's interesting to see this extract in black & white. I sometimes feel that certain types of dramatic show are better presented in this way because you're not distracted by the colours, so it concentrates you on the nourish visuals. The bust that Diana handles (steady, matron!) Is harder to see properly in B/W, so there are downsides to showing a colour episode in monochrome (if I the episode had been filmed in B/W, the bust would have been made lighter coloured so it's details showed up better in contrast on screen). This episode, as a rare sequel in the series, might have felt more directly linked to the original B/W episode from S4 than it is by also having been filmed in B/W. The only two constants (apart from Steed and Mrs Peel!) are, from memory, the cybernauts (although the face design has been improved to be scarier: the original cybernaut face was quite bland), and the character of Benson, the late Dr Armstrong's assistant (again played by Frederick Jaeger, I think) who returns to assist a new person (played by Peter Cushing) who's now in control of the cybernauts. In case anyone hasn't seen the episode, I won't say why Peter's character is involved as it's a nice twist when revealed. What I do like with the three cybernaut stories is that there is progression each time. In the first, victims were selected by cybernauts homing on a specific object in their possession (so you could actually get the wrong victim), in the second it's a specific heartbeat, so the cybernaut would never kill the wrong person, and in the third (a New Avengers episode) the cybernaut is directed by remote control, with the operator seeing through the cybernaut's camera eyes (so it's used rather like a drone). In that third episode, there is also the clever additional twist in which the cybernetics are then melded with a human being to create a cyborg , as a nice rounding off of the concept. The cybernaut idea, therefore, constantly develops and does not just repeat its previous plots. :-)
Very interesting. I must admit that I haven't that great a memory for such details so thanks for this. I would also say, as an explanation, that my interest in posting this in black and white was simply that this was how I saw the episodes for the first time. Not only was colour TV not widely available at the time of the first broadcasting but I don't think we had a colour TV in our home until about 1978 or so. I think the colour episodes lack the visual depth of the black and white episodes as black and white allows for deep textures and shadows. I agree that the colour episodes shown in black and white don't look anywhere near as good as the black and white episodes.
This is a fun mixture of styles of the likes of early Carry Ons, ghosty/detective films like Will Hay's The Ghost of St Michaels, and horror spoofs like Frankie Howerd's The House in Nightmare Park (featuring serious actors - like Donald Pleasence here - in many of the supporting roles). Sid and Kenneth are virtually playing versions of characters already established in the Carry Ons (it also feels like they were testing the water to see if Sid and Kenneth made a good comedy double-act). I would put this higher as a comedy film than several of the early Carry Ons. It's well worth a watch. :-)
Yes... Many watches in my case. I think the key is in the personalities not just of our two leads but in the entire supporting cast. It is, I believe, a perfect movie. One of the finest ever made. I can think of films that may be its equal but none which are better. My reasoning being is that, if I am feeling low, this film can raise my spirits. If I'm feeling sick, it can give me the sense of starting to feel better. I know that scholars and critics prefer to wrap their hyperbole around the likes of 'Citizen Kane' or 'Bicycle Thieves' or that Chantal Ackerman film but those films, while fine I'm sure, are utterly useless to me. Every second of 'What a Carve Up' is golden.
Mother's triplet brother here, doomed, and the earlier killing of their brother Tom as well, perhaps the sad double inspiration for Mother to enter the Service and fast-track himself right to the top of management to be able to do his bit to in some way avenge his brothers' deaths? I'm not serious, but it almost works..! :-)
I love this episode, especially the way it begins with the throbbing, persistent staccato music emphasising the march of the cybernaut and simultaneously the heartbeat we later discover it's tuned to, and the strangely-angled jump cut images that synchronise with the music as if from the cybernaut's point of view of the journey to the victim. It's also my favourite of the three cybernaut stories, for several reasons including the appearance of Peter Cushing, and not least because the cybernaut is made to appear larger and more strong here than the ones in the first story and the oddly clunky one in the third. Here it's like an unstoppable walking tank. Marvellous! :-)
Thanks. I am glad you can enjoy this strange channel. I've been alive for a little while and I've always loved movies. I used to go to strange cinemas that had all night shows and when abroad I always went to a cinema and saw a version of some film I could barely understand. For me, it's hardly ever the whole film that matters. It's moments, the look in the eye of an actor or actress, some strange sound effect, a single line of dialogue, the way the camera might glide across in a tracking shot or change focus so we see something new. I will nearly always forget the stories and can rarely recall the plot of any movie but the moments remain as something profound that can't be forgotten.
He is amazing. The most amazing thing is that he makes it look easy but, while many actors can do big emotions, what he does is invest every aspect of life and every object with a sense of endless fascination.
Love this film soooo much! The following scene introducing Paula Prentiss and then in the nightclub dancing to 'little red book' is one of my all time favourite movie sequences. 😍👍
Still the coolest and stylish persona on Television. Sadly my WOKE Library have banned Leslie Charteris , and W.E. johns books. The local library wont say why .
I agree about The Saint. That's really weird about your library. I'm not a lawyer but I suspect that the librarian involved in this decision may be breaking the law. No book should be banned from the adult section of a public library unless it contains information that can be used to do harm.
It's a pleasure. Like many, I grew up seeing her in films and on television and always found her presence an absolute joy. I think her smile makes everyone smile. I'm so glad you enjoyed these moments.
I can appreciate that. In fact, I'm sure justines is delicious. I always think of De Sade's perpetually tortured heroine when I hear the name. And in Shelley's novel, Justine is the nanny who gets executed for a murder of which she is entirely innocent. The dark humour in Hammer gives so much of their work a quality that passes the test of time. You could say that they couldn't be as gory as modern horror and that may be true... but the wit is so deep and dark that the more obvious jokes in gory horror films seem pallid by comparison to this coldness which always gets a big laugh whenever I have been lucky enough to see this film in company.
