Displaying items by tag: Mel Ferrer

EATEN ALIVE

US, 1976, 91 minutes, Colour.

Neville Brand, Mel Ferrer, Carolyn Jones, Marilyn Burns, William Finley, Stuart Whitman, Roberta Collins, Kyle Richards, Robert Englund, Crystin Sinclaire.

Directed by Tobe Hooper.

The breakout of horror films in the mid-1970s, Tobe Hooper with the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, filmed by Wes Craven, Friday the 13^th…

Eaten Alive is Tobe Hooper’s immediate film after Chainsaw Massacre. It is very much in the vein, not a film about Cannibals, rather a range of victims hounded by the insane hotel owner into the jaws of an alligator/crocodile.

In retrospect, quite an exploitation film of brutality and violence as well as provocative nudity and sexuality. Often repellent.

It is a surprise to find some of the older stars in the film, Neville Brand committing himself wholeheartedly into his mad brutal villain role, Mel Ferrer rather dapper, Carolyn Jones as the local madam 20 years after her film heyday. Stuart Whitman as his regular screen presence – and, surprisingly, a rather young Robert Englund some years before he turned into Freddy Krueger.

Threads of plot, a runaway girl, caught in a brothel, running away, the mad hotel owner, a family arriving and the little girl spending the whole film hiding under the house to avoid the alligator, a father and his daughter searching for their runaway, and some of the harsh young locals – most of them finishing up in the deadly jaws.

Mostly for the record, the horror films of the time, the career of Tobe Hooper which extended from the early 1970s to 2013, a wide range of feature films including televisions Salem’s Lot and the more popular Poltergeist.

OH… ROSALINDA!

UK, 1955, 101 minutes, Colour.

Anton Walbrook, Michael Redgrave, Ludmila Tcherina, Anthony Quayle, Dennis Price, Mel Ferrer, Anneliese Rothenberger.

Directed by Michael Powell.

Film-buffs will appreciate the films of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, especially admiring their very successful and striking films of the 1940s, will want to see this film, the last of their experiments, their coming to the end of their collaboration in the late 1950s.

The screenplay is an updating of Strauss’s Die Fledermaus, The Bat, set in 1899, a light operetta, romance, deceptions, the touches of farce.

However, this film will be something of an acquired taste. The basic plot and characters from the original have been transferred to 1955, post-war Vienna, divided, rather like Berlin, into various zones, Russian, British, American, French. Audiences who appreciate the Strauss music will enjoy it. Audiences who find this kind of operetta something of a strain, will definitely feel the strain.

But, the adaptation to Vienna 1955, the international implications of the time, friendships and hostilities, the role of the Soviet Union, British propriety, the Americans being American, and the French touches of a more, is persuasive.

The film is very stylised, staged, emphasis on elaborate decor, lavish costumes, more than a touch of the bedroom farce. But, it is the cast which is quite striking. Michael Redgrave, surprisingly, represents the French, a man about town, married to Rosalinda, but always with an eye to other women, eventually being trapped. This is not the Michael Redgrave we are used to, doing his own singing, dancing, surprising high kicks, and into the air with the heel clicking zest. On the other hand, Dennis Price is typically British – enough said. Anthony Quayle is bombastic as the Russian representative. Mel Ferrer is the romantic American.

Entering the proceedings, introducing them, manipulating events, tantalising characters is the host, played by Anton Walbrook, veteran of several Powell-Pressburger films, The 49^th Parallel, Colonel Blimp, The Red Shoes. He is obviously enjoying himself here.

Singer-dancer, Ludmila Tcherina is Rosalinda.

A specialised film for film buffs, Strauss lovers, those who enjoy this kind of operetta farce.