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Working links in the
members' page, text-only in the AdultCheck
version I'll go
through the new releases tomorrow. I've had some
monster flu or something, and I spent altogether
too much of my waking time on Topsy-Turvy, which
had nudity, but from obscure bit players. The
movie is the story of how Gilbert and Sullivan
came to write The Mikado. It chronicles a bit of
their private lives, a bit of their relationship
to each other, a bit of their previous musicals,
and a bit of the supporting producers and actors
who were important to their productions. It is
more of a history lesson than an entertainment.
If you love Gilbert and Sullivan, you will adore
it for the insights, for the period detail, for
the backstage gossip, and for the actual scenes
lovingly and colorfully recreated. If you don't
know who they are, or don't have any interest in
their work or the period in which they lived,
Victorian England, then you will find it a very
slow 140 minutes. I found the first 60 minutes
quite slow, and I was enthusiastic about the
subject matter.
"Sex
and the City", from Tuna
Tuna's thoughts: Sex in
the City, year 1, Episode 6. "Secret
Sex". Episode 6 of Sex in the City is about
men who have relationships with women they don't
want to be seen with just for the sex. Carrie
(Sarah Jessica Parker) is on a date with
"Mr. Big" who takes her to a small
Chinese restaurant where she meets a friend and
his date (Heather Barclay). Later, she learns
from her friend that he takes this girl there
because he doesn't want to be seen with her. She
is not all that attractive, and they have little
in common other than great sex. Also, since he
has no expectations of a relationship with this
woman, he feels less inhibited. Carrie begins to
worry that Mr. Big took her there for the same
reason.
Heather Barclay has no
credits at IMDB at all. She looks familiar to me,
but has probably never had a big enough part to
get noticed.
thumbnails Kim Cattrall (1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6)
"The
Blood-Splattered Bride", from Tuna
This has been floating
around in a highly edited video version under the
name of "Til Death Do Us Part". With
the newly released DVD, you can now see what has
been missing.
Here is a very unusual
link for this movie. Click here for the complete text of the
novel upon which the movie is based, Carmilla, by
Sheridan Le Fanu. For you genre fans this is not
just a summary or a review, but the entire novel,
with footnotes.
Tuna's thoughts: The Blood Spattered Bride
(1972 La Novia Ensangrentada) is a vampire film
written and directed by Spanish Born Vincente
Adanda and is based on the novel Carmilla by
Sheridan Le Fanu. It stars veteran Spanish scream
queen Maribel Martin, and English born Alexandra
Bastedo (who seems to have made movies in
numerous European countries). According to
Maltin, Carmilla had enough story for a good
film, but Blood Spattered Bride did not do it
justice. The plot was hard to follow (as
evidenced by the fact that the first comment at
IMDB has several things wrong), and the film was
previously available in the US in a heavily
censored version. The DVD is a director's cut,
and gets good marks for nudity. Indeed, Maribel
wins best achievement by nipples for their
outstanding performance (see images 4, 5 and 7).
It is the story of newlyweds. The bride begins
having nightmares (the first is of her rape) at
the first hotel stop on their honeymoon. Her
husband is not especially gentle or sensitive on
their wedding night either. They travel to his
ancestral castle, where the bride (Maribel) comes
under the power of a relative who has been dead
for 200 years. Her nightmares increase in
frequency, and begin to focus on murdering her
husband with a Kris dagger. The long-dead
relative, of course, is undead. This part is
played by Bastedo, who has one long nude sequence
where the husband finds her buried in the sand
and slowly uncovers her (image 2), then puts her
nude into his car.
I didn't hate this film, but was probably
seeing a better version (good DVD transfer,
decent English dubbing and restored footage) than
other reviewers had access to. The acting is
adequate, and the plot confusion served to make
me pay attention. If you choose to rent this one,
make sure you get the DVD version.
thumbnails
Alexandra Bastedo (1,
2,
3,
4)
Maribel Martin (1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7,
8,
9,
10,
11,
12)
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