[<<] Apr 2005 blog (6) [>>]
This month's blogs: 2005 April (5) | 2005 April (4) | 2005 April (3) | 2005 April (2) | 2005 April (1)
"Method of this work:
literary montage.
I have nothing to say only to show."
(Passagenwerk (1927 - 1940) - Walter Benjamin)
2005, Apr 20; 22:40 ::: Lélé (1934) - Hans Bellmer
Lélé (1934) - Hans Bellmer
See also: 1934
2005, Apr 20; 22:26 ::: Histoire de l'oeil
Histoire de l'oeil (1973) - Patrick Longchamps
image sourced here.Histoire de l'oeil de Patrick Longchamps
Pour Histoire de l'oeil (1973) de Patrick Longchamps est un cas encore plus bizarre. L'histoire est inspirée d'un roman de Georges Bataille. Le réalisateur a disparu au Mexique. Parfois je me demande si le film existe vraiment (1). A-t-il été terminé? La seule trace de son existence est le programme d'un festival italien dans lequel il est repris mais sans indication de durée et je sais que dans le catalogue des festivals il arrive qu'on reprenne des films non terminés. C'est un film mystérieux qu'on aimerait retrouver et voir!Propos receuillis par Jean-Michel Vlaeminckx
(1) Paul Geens nous signale qu'il possède une copie VHS du film de Patrick Longchamps. Actuellement, le film est bloqué par les héritiers de Georges Bataille qui ont vendu en 1998 les droits cinématographiques de Histoire de l'oeil à une firme de production américaine qui semble être le string ou le cache-sexe d'une boîte de vidéo porno. Quant au réalisateur, il a disparu. --http://www.cinergie.be/cinergie/revue33/debat.html [Apr 2005]Georges Bataille's Story of the Eye (2004) - Andrew Repasky McElhinney
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0379797 [Apr 2005]Histoire de l'oeil (1928) - Georges Bataille
His novel The Story of the Eye, for example, published under the pseudonym Lord Auch (literally, Lord "to the shithouse" -- "auch" being slang for telling somebody off by sending them to the toilet), is pure pornography, and yet it has the philosophical and emotional depth of a great novel. The imagery of the novel is built upon a series of metaphors which in turn refer to philosophical constructs developed in his work: the eye, the egg, the sun, the earth, the testicle. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georges_Bataille [Jul 2004]See also: 1928 - 1947 - Georges Bataille - Histoire de l'oeil
2005, Apr 20; 21:30 ::: William LevyWilliam Levy (born January 10, 1939), known as the Talmudic Wizard of Amsterdam and Dr. Doo-Wop, is the author of such works as The Virgin Sperm Dancer, Wet Dreams, Certain Radio Speeches of Ezra Pound and Natural Jewboy.
Before leaving the U.S. in the autumn of 1966 aboard the R.M.S Queen Mary, Mr. Levy attended the University of Maryland and Temple University and taught in the literature department at Shippensburg State College, in Pennsylvania. In the sixties and seventies, he was founder and chief-editor of many magazines such as: The Insect Trust Gazette, International Times, Suck, and The Fanatic. Recently, he served as European Editor for American glossy fanzines High Times and Penthouse Magazine and as an associate editor of Amsterdam zines Het Gewicht, Ins and Outs, La Linea and Atom Club. Mr. Levy has been a regular contributor to Andrei Codrescu's Exquisite Corpse and Libido and is currently publisher of Transactions of the Invisible Language Society series. His meditation play Europe in Flames was also featured at the Festival of New Radio in New York. In 1998, Mr. Levy was awarded the Erotic Oscar for writing at London's Sex Maniac's Ball. Mr. Levy's alter-ego, Dr. Doo Wop, can be heard weekly spinning groovy music across Amsterdam's airwaves.
Mr. Levy currently lives in Amsterdam with his wife, the literary translator Susan Janssen (translator of many works of Bukowski and of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby). --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Levy [Apr 2005]
2005, Apr 20; 17:30 ::: Klaus Kinski
Mein liebster Feind (1999) - Werner Herzog
image sourced here.
Jack the Ripper / Der Dirnenmörder von London (1976) - Jess Franco
image sourced here.More pictures of Kinski here.
2005, Apr 20; 17:18 ::: The Big Doll House (1971) - Jack Hill
Pam Grier in The Big Doll House (1971)
image sourced here."I will always remember when the franchise holder in New Orleans, a heavily Catholic city, told me that after he saw the numbers on Big Doll House Friday night, he lit a candle in church on Sunday to the film. He said he had never made a profit like that in his life - and he had been in the business forty years."- Roger Corman, How I Made A Hundred Movies In Hollywood And Never Lost A Dime, p 182.
2005, Apr 20; 16:38 ::: Euro girls
Femi Benussi, photo credit unidentified
image sourced here.
Overdrive (1970) de David Mc Neil
image sourced here.
image sourced here.
Eugenie... The Story of Her Journey into Perversion / Die Jungfrau und die Peitsche - Jess Franco
image sourced here.
image sourced here.
image sourced here.Deze galerij is gewijd aan Europese actrices die in de vergetelheid zijn geraakt. De een is dood, de ander leeft voort in weelde.
Ze zijn mooi van geboorte. Hun ambities waren niet vastomlijnd. Ze verdienden de kost in B-films.
Ze vermaakten zichzelf best. Een Spaanse komedie hier, een Italiaanse griezelfilm daar. Tot het midden van de jaren tachtig, toen ook de middenklasse zichzelf te intelligent vond voor hun films en deze begon te verguizen.
Internet en DVD kunnen het einde betekenen van de onderwaardering van de Eurogirls. Ook het feminisme heeft genoeg humor geincorporeerd. "Oh schat, kom je mee naar die laatste Dogmafilm?" "Nee, ik ga nu eindelijk naar de DVD van The Devil's Nightmare kijken!" --http://www.submagazine.nl/sub8/eurogirls/eurogirls.htm [Apr 2005]
2005, Apr 20; 15:42 ::: Expressionism
Blue Horse (1911) - Franz Marc
On White II (1923) - Wassily Kandinsky
image sourced here.
2005, Apr 20; 08:28 ::: Andrea Dworkin dies at 58
Le Viol (1934) - René Magritte
Andrea Dworkin (September 26, 1946 – April 9, 2005) was an American radical feminist and writer. She was best known for her criticism of pornography, which she argued led to rape and other forms of violence against women. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrea_Dworkin [Apr 2005]
see also: Andrea Dworkin
2005, Apr 20; 07:36 ::: I Pianeti contro di noi (1962) - Romano Ferrara
Michel Lemoine in
I Pianeti contro di noi (1962) - Romano FerraraPlot Outline: An alien race sends cyborgs--made to look like the son of a famous scientist, whom they killed when he landed on their planet--to Earth to help pave the way for an invasion. --http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0055297 [Apr 2005]
Michel Lemoine was married to Janine Reynaud.
2005, Apr 19; 12:50 ::: Different From the Others (1919) - Richard Oswald
Different From the Others (1919) - Richard Oswald [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
Different From the Others is an historic milestone, having been the first film to present a positive viewpoint on gay liberation. It provides the first screen depiction of a gay bar, with Conrad Veidt playing a gay role - all 50 years before the 1969 Stonewall riots which marked the beginning of the gay liberation movement in America. Seventy-seven years after this groundbreaking film, there are still widespread homophobic laws and attitudes the world over. Some ground has been gained for the cause of tolerance especially since the early 1980s, but there is a long road ahead. In a recent article on Conrad Veidt that appeared in The Silent Film Monthly in 1997, there was not a single word mentioned about his gay role in Different From the Others --http://members.aol.com/Henning7/Anders.html [Apr 2005]
Conrad Veidt
Conrad Veidt (January 22, 1893 – April 3, 1943) was a German actor, well known for his roles in such films as The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) and Casablanca (1942).He was born Hans Walter Conrad Weidt in Potsdam, Germany. In the 27 years between 1916 and his death, he managed to act in well over 100 movies, some of them classics. His starring role in The Man Who Laughs (1928) was the inspiration for Batman's greatest enemy, The Joker. Veidt appeared in Das Land ohne Frauen (1929), Germany's first talking picture.
Veidt was known to have anti-Nazi beliefs, and he fled Germany in 1933 with his life in danger. Settling in Britain he continued making films, notably three with director Michael Powell: The Spy in Black (1939), Contraband (1940) and The Thief of Bagdad (1940). He later moved to Hollywood, and starred as the Nazi Major Heinrich Strasser in Casablanca (1942). He died of a heart attack a year later, while playing golf in Los Angeles. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conrad_Veidt [Apr 2005]
see also: gay cinema - 1919 - Magnus Hirschfeld
2005, Apr 19; 23:08 ::: The Road to Hell (1900) - Alfred Kubin
The Road to Hell (1900) - Alfred Kubin
Alfred Leopold Isidor Kubin (April 10, 1877 - August 20, 1959) was a Austrian expressionist illustrator and occasional writer.
From 1898 to 1901, Kubin studied at the art school Schmitt Reutte and at the Munich Academy. In 1906 it acquired the Zwickledt school, where Kubin led a withdrawn life up to his death. Kubin is considered as an important representative of expressionism. He created above all quill drawings (partly hand-coloured) and lithographies of dark, spectral, symbolistic force of expression (often assembled into thematic series of drawings). In 1912 he became associated with the Blaue Reiter (English: Blue Rider) group.
Like O. Kokoschka and A. P. Guetersloh, Kubin had both artistic and literary talent. His novel Die andere Seite (The Other Side), 1909 and his illustrations of literary works by E. A. Poe, E. T. A. Hoffmann, F. M. Dostoyevsky and others, demonstrate his diverse talents.
Die andere Seite is an apocalyptic/dystopic fantasy with an atmosphere of claustrophobic absurdity reminiscent of later writings of Kafka's, such as The Castle and The Trial. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Kubin [Apr 2005]
see also: 1900 - expressionism
2005, Apr 19; 23:08 ::: Heads Severed (1818) - Théodore Géricault
Heads Severed (1818) - Théodore Géricault
2005, Apr 19; 19:05 ::: First house music tunes
Two tunes are arguably the first House music, each arriving in early 1984. The tune that was chronologically first was Jamie Principle and Frankie Knuckles' "Your Love", a huge hit in the clubs, but only available on tape copies. The second, "On And On" by Jesse Saunders was later but on vinyl (Shapiro, 2000). --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_music#Chicago_years:_early_1980s_-_late_1980s [Apr 2005]
see also: Chicago - house music
inspired by
PUMP UP THE VOLUME
3 x 1 hour series for Channel 4. A comprehensive look at the history of House music from its roots in Chicago to the current Garage scene. A CD and book were launched off the back of the series. --http://www.paradise-garage.ch/media.htm [Apr 2005]
2005, Apr 19; 19:05 ::: Female ejaculation and the British film censorsFemale ejaculation and the British film censors
In the United Kingdom, the British Board of Film Classification denies the existence of the phenomenon of female ejaculation, regarding it instead as urination during sex, thus banning its depiction under its rules that ban the depiction of urolagnia. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Female_ejaculation#Female_ejaculation_and_the_British_film_censors [Apr 2005]see also: ejaculation - censorship - BBFC
2005, Apr 19; 12:50 ::: The Twilight Girls (1957) - André Hunebelle
The Twilight Girls (1957) - André Hunebelle [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
Radley Metzger: At that time, the question was survival. We really would do anything to get the film exhibited. But some states, like New York, were very strict. I think we helped knock the State Censorship Board out with The Twilight Girls. I got my old City College arrogance back: when they said, "It's a dirty picture," I said, "No, it isn't dirty." And they said, "Well, it's lousy." And I said, "That's like saying a rich man deserves more justice than a poor man. A bad picture should be shown just the same as a good picture." We were in the courts for two years over The Twilight Girls, but we finally won. And that was one of the last big cases the New York Board fought before it died. --Radley Metger interviewed by Richard Corliss in Film Comment, January 1973 via http://www.vidmarc.demon.co.uk/mondo-erotico/metzger/interviews/aristo1.html [Nov 2004]
see also: Radley Metzger - censorship - erotic movies
2005, Apr 19; 12:15 ::: Le Journal de Jeanne (1969) - Mario Mercier
Le Journal de Jeanne (1969) - Mario Mercier [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
Le libraire-éditeur La Musardine poursuit la parution de livres érotiques en format de poche dans sa collection "Lectures amoureuses de Jean-Jacques Pauvert" avec le "Journal de Jeanne" de Mario Mercier, pour lequel l’éditeur Eric Losfeld avait été condamné en 1970. Ce texte étonnant était introuvable depuis longtemps en librairie.
Mario Mercier is the director of La Goulve/Erotic Witchcraft (1972) and La Papesse (1975). --http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0580434/ [Apr 2005]
see also: erotic fiction
2005, Apr 19; 09:55 ::: 69 film reviews
Le Mépris/Contempt (1963) - Jean-Luc Godard [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
100 film reviews: The Kiss - (1896) - Le Voyage Dans La Lune - (1902) - The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari - (1920) - Nosferatu - (1922) - Ballet Mécanique - (1924) - Orlacs Hände - (1925) - Extase - (1932) - Open City - (1945) - Bitter Rice - (1949) - Glen or Glenda? (1953) - (1953) - Garden of Eden - (1955) - ...And God Created Woman - (1956) - The Immoral Mr. Teas (1959) - Eyes without a Face (1959) - Peeping Tom (1960) - Psycho (1960) - Last Year at Marienbad (1961) - Lolita (1962) - Mondo Cane (1962) - Contempt (1963) - Blood Feast (1963) - The Masque of the Red Death (1964) - Repulsion (1965) - I, A Woman (1965) - Persona (1966) - Chelsea Girls (1966) - Blow Up (1966) - Belle de Jour (1967) - I Am Curious ... Blue/Yellow (1967) - Teorema (1968) - If.... (1968) - Night of the Living Dead (1968) - Easy Rider (1969) - Femina Ridens (1969) - Kärlekens språk (1969) - Performance (1970) - Women In Love (1970) - El Topo (1970) - A Clockwork Orange (1971) - Last Tango in Paris (1972) - Deep Throat (1972) - La Grande Bouffe (1973) - The Night Porter (1974) - Ilsa - She Wolf of the SS (1974) - The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) - Jaws (1975) - The Story of O (1975) - The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) - In the Realm of the Senses (1976) - Eraserhead (1977) - Pretty Baby (1978) - Caligula (1979) - Brood (1979) - Return of the Secaucus 7 (1980) - Mommie Dearest (1981) - Evil Dead (1981) - Cafe Flesh (1982) - Videodrome (1983) - Body Double (1984) - Tampopo (1985) - Blue Velvet (1986) - Bad Taste (1987) - Tetsuo (1988) - Akira (1988) - The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover (1989) - Henry & June (1990) - Twin Peaks (1990) - My Own Private Idaho (1991) - Bitter Moon (1992) - Tokyo Decadence (1992) - Man Bites Dog (1992) - Pulp Fiction (1994) - Ridicule (1996) - Funny Games (1997) - L' Ennui (1998) - Romance X (1999) - Eyes Wide Shut (1999) - Audition (1999) - Baise-Moi (2000) - Y tu Mama Tambien (2001) - Sex and Lucia (2001) - Intimacy (2000) - Irréversible (2002) - Secretary (2002) - The Dreamers (2003) - Swimming Pool (2003) - Ma Mère (2004) - 9 songs (2004) [Apr 2005]
see also: film
2005, Apr 19; 09:52 ::: 108 film directors by date of birth
photo of Roger Corman, unidentified
Roger Corman (2004) - Beverly Gray [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
108 film directors: Thomas Edison - Georges Méliès - Louis Feuillade - Robert Wiene - Cecil B. DeMille - Erich von Stroheim - Abel Gance - Jean Cocteau - Fritz Lang - Jean Renoir - Dziga Vertov - Sergei Eisenstein - Alfred Hitchcock - Oskar Fischinger - Luis Buñuel - Leni Riefenstahl - Luchino Visconti - Robert Bresson - Jacques Tati - Riccardo Freda - Akira Kurosawa - Georges Franju - Mario Bava - Orson Welles - Maya Deren - Ingmar Bergman - Gualtiero Jacopetti - Federico Fellini - Chris Marker - Joe Sarno - Pier Paolo Pasolini - Russ Meyer - Alain Resnais - José Bénazéraf - Walerian Borowczyk - Yasuzo Masumura - Roger Corman - Ken Russell - Stanley Kubrick - Nicolas Roeg - Roger Vadim - Jacques Rivette - Radley Metzger - Alexandro Jodorowsky - José Ramón Larraz - Jess Franco - Claude Chabrol - Kenneth Anger - Dusan Makavejev - Nagisa Oshima - François Truffaut - Fernando Arrabal - Jack Smith - Stan Brakhage - Tinto Brass - Roman Polanski - Juzo Itami - Donald Cammell - Jan Svankmajer - Woody Allen - Koji Wakamatsu - Bertrand Blier - Peter Bogdanovich - Bernardo Bertolucci - Just Jaeckin - George Romero - Larry Cohen - Barbet Schroeder - Krzysztof Kieslowski - Michael Haneke - Peter Greenaway - Werner Herzog - Derek Jarman - Martin Scorcese - David Cronenberg - Larry Clark - Jonathan Demme - Rainer Werner Fassbinder - Wim Wenders - David Lynch - John Waters - Joe Dante - Patrice Leconte - Brothers Quay - Catherine Breillat - John Carpenter - Pedro Almodóvar - John Sayles - Abel Ferrara - Alex van Warmerdam - Gus Van Sant - Alex Cox - Coen Brothers - Jane Campion - James Cameron - Lars von Trier - Spike Lee - Tim Burton - Takashi Miike - Todd Haynes - Michael Winterbottom - Gaspar Noé - Quentin Tarantino - François Ozon - P.T. Anderson - Christopher Nolan
see also: film director
2005, Apr 18; 22:10 ::: Folk Is Not a Four Letter Word (2005) - Andy Votel, Various
Folk Is Not a Four Letter Word (2005) - Andy Votel, Various [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
Track Listings
1. Kathy Smith - It Takes So Long
2. Sarofeen & Smoke - It’s Love
3. Brigitte Fontaine - Brigitte
4. Linda Perhacs - Hey, Who Really Cares?
5. Breakout - Warm Up My Lips
6. Musica Dispersa - Cefalea
7. The Poppy Family - Shadows On My Wall
8. Wendy & Bonnie - By The Sea
9. Bonnie Koloc - My Aunt Edna
10. Heaven & Earth - Jenny
11. Erica Pomerace - You Used To Think
12. Audience - Man On Box
13. The Roundtable - Scarborough Fair
14. Sidan - Gobiath
15. Sidan - Ar GollAlbum Description
Folk-Funk? Electric Folk? Hippy-Rock? Acid Folk? Sunshine-Pop? Folk-Fusion? Folksploitation? Once again music lovers struggle to bridge the deep & wide gully where another hybrid genre wanders lonely amongst the vinyl ghosts of yesteryears ethereal love songs. Let us introduce a flock of unsung songbirds who flutter between rocks and hardened pastures too commercial to be traditional - not successful enough to be credible - from the wrong side of town - on the other side of the globe. Here are some of the would-be folk legends that you didn’t read about, they never played the festivals and you never heard their records... until today."Folk Is Not A Four Letter Word" is the debut release from DELAY 68 RECORDS, a brand new label from CHERRY RED RECORDS, set to bring you the best in Folk, Funk, Psych, Prog, Ye-Ye, & Beat from across the world.
Compiled by, and featuring original artwork and sleevenotes from ANDY VOTEL (TWISTED NERVE), fans of Andy’s groundbreaking "MUSIC TO WATCH GIRLS CRY" mix CD (an insanely eclectic mix of 75 tracks in 76 minutes!), and "FINDERS KEEPERS" compilation on FAT CITY RECORDS will have some indication of what to expect from this enthralling compilation.
** The majority of these tracks have never before been on CD, many appear here for the first time away from their sought after original releases.
** Eclectic folk has become very popular lately amongst collectors, DJs and artists (Wendy and Bonnie’s "By The Sea" was recently sampled by Super Furry Animals on their album Phantom Power), and Andy Votel is well respected in each of those circles.
** Features cover sticker endorsements from DAMON GOUGH (aka BADLY DRAWN BOY), and BOB STANLEY (ST. ETIENNE)
** There is already much press interest in the label and this album from national magazines (including Uncut, Mojo, Record Collector) as well specialist websites and radio. --via Amazon.co.uk
see also: folk - terms of disparagement
inspired by Joost
2005, Apr 18; 21:48 ::: La Prisonnière (1968) - Henri-Georges Clouzot
La Prisonnière (1968) - Henri-Georges Clouzot [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
Elisabeth Wiener in
La Prisonnière/Woman in Chains (1968) - Henri-Georges ClouzotJosée, a beautiful young film editor, is working on a documentary that fascinates her. In the film, women who have been sexually dominated are interviewed. Each explains their gradual desire for more degradation as the abuse continues. Josee is shocked and intrigued by this and begins to desire something more from her relationship with her lover Gilbert. She meets Stan, a friend of Gilbert’s whom she discovers is an amateur photographer. One evening Stan shows Josee some of his artistic photos accidentally revealing a hidden side of his personality. One of the photos unintentionally displayed is of a young woman bound in chains. Josee is both repulsed and captivated by the image and pressures Stan to tell her everything about it. Stan concedes he is sexually gratified from sadomasochistic imagery and invites Josee to his next photo shoot. Josee’s curiosity soon transforms into desire as she enters a new world of sexual gratification, becoming a willing participant in this erotic game of domination.
From the director of the classic French thriller DIABOLIQUE (1955) comes this very obscure and erotically charged masterpiece. Set in a world of unusual art and sculpture, viewers are shown several artists at work. Josee’s lover Gilbert, is a sculptor who forms his art from clay, steel, and glass. Stan is a sculptor as well, choosing instead to use the female body for his creations. The film is an amazingly beautiful journey into the hidden desires of a woman, told with a very feminine point of view that spirals into the surreal. Strikingly photographed by Andréas Winding. Starring the beautiful Elisabeth Wiener as the sexually enlightened Josee. Also starring Laurent Terzieff, Bernard Fresson, Dany Carrel. Written by Henri-Georges Clouzot, Monique Lange, Marcel Moussy. Directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot and Robert Menegoz. --http://www.lfvw.com/prisonnieredvdr.html [Apr 2005]
2005, Apr 18; 13:20 ::: Lucifera in fumetti
Lucifera
2005, Apr 18; 13:03 ::: 'Gialli' by Mondadori
some Mondadori 'gialli' covers
image sourced here.Mondadori publishing house
The decade when Mondadori establishes itself as a publisher of books and magazines with the successful launch of different series (Le Grazie, Romanzi d'Oggi, Le Scie and La biblioteca Romantica edited by Giuseppe Antonio Borgese in 1931), and with the creation of the first magazines (Novella, La Donna, Romanzo Film, Il Milione and Il Secolo Illustrato, a title whose editorial formula was the forerunner of future illustrated magazines).In the static, traditional publishing sector of the time, Arnoldo Mondadori stands out for his dynamism, and for him the main objective is perfectly clear: to develop the publishing house at the same pace as the market develops. For this reason he is not content to snatch the most important authors away from the other publishing houses, but courageously concentrates on producing large print-runs of books with a large circulation, creating the first national network of agents and anticipating the technique of direct marketing with a system of direct sales of books to the public that quickly number 50,000 customers. --http://www.mondadori.it/ame/en/gruppo/gse_fra.html [Apr 2005]
2005, Apr 18; 12:33 ::: Edgar Wallace (1875 - 1932)
A 'giallo' edition of Edgar Wallace
image sourced here.Edgar Wallace
Richard Horatio Edgar Wallace (April 1, 1875 - February 10, 1932) was a British crime writer, journalist and playwright.Presumably born in London, he was found abandoned at the age of nine days in Billingsgate by a fishmonger, who subsequently brought him up as his own son. His career started as a war correspondent for the Daily Mail in the Boer War, following which he turned his hand to writing crime thrillers at a prolific rate. He is generally credited with inventing the modern thriller novel.
He wrote an immense number of novels in the last ten years of his life and his output is often compared to that of other prolific authors, such as Isaac Asimov. It is generally claimed that Wallace produced 175 novels and 24 plays, many of which were filmed. There is a famous anecdote in which visitors to his home actually observed him dictate a novel in the course of a weekend.
It is said that Wallace was the first British crime novelist to use policemen rather than brilliant amateur sleuths as most other writers of the time did. However his heroes were far from ordinary - they were mostly special investigators of some sort who worked outside the normal police force. Most of his novels are independent stand-alone stories; he seldom used series heroes.
He did write a popular series about the heyday of the British Empire, starring "Sanders of the River". The movie of the same name is remembered today mostly because it co-starred Paul Robeson as a tribal chief.
Today we think of Wallace as a novelist but in his time he was a very popular playwright. His play The Ringer was a vehicle for Gerald du Maurier, the actor who was the father of novelist Daphne du Maurier.
He died in Hollywood on 10th February 1932 of pneumonia while working on King Kong and is buried in Little Marlow, England.
A large number of movies have been based on his novels. The Green Archer was a well-regarded serial in the days of silent cinema, and post-war there were a string of B-movies made in both Britain and Germany. These later became a staple of late-night television. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Wallace [Apr 2005]
2005, Apr 18; 11:39 ::: Maciste
Maciste all'inferno (1962) - Riccardo Freda
image sourced here.
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