“Would you still believe in me if you could no longer see me?”

IFWT #148 - Laure (1976) [ft. Gentry Austin of The Sin Syndicate]

I had a great time talking with Liam of the In Film We Trust podcast about one of the jewels of Annie Belle's early filmography, the Harry Alan Towers produced, Phillipines-set, Emmanuelle Arsan written (we'll talk about it), masterpiece of mystical sexuality, Laure. Give it a listen, tell your friends, tell your publisher (and give…

“She took us both for a ride.”

The Daughter of Whores

Some men don’t want to be pioneers. A film very much obsessed with Gloria Guida’s legs, especially if they are astride a motorbike. The thing about Italian sexy comedies is they will often create situations in which to place the female lead with small, unattractive men, which only highlights the near statuesque, Roman goddess-like appearance of their beautiful stars. Or maybe this is just more apparent with Gloria Guida,…

“The snatch can’t fool me, Lord.”

Neon-lit sex, guilt and videotape. Opens with a “pussy smells like fish” joke and China Blue (Kathleen Turner) gargling J&B to wash the taste of dick out of her mouth. Ken Russell and writer Barry Sandler’s shot across the bow—this is the picture you came to see, right? A movie about the disguises we wear, self-destructive pride, and Anthony Perkins being a little freak.

There’s actually a really sad story here about sexual incompatibility…

“At last, I’ve seen a god come to life.”

Grand, orgiastic camp, with Claudette Colbert’s midriff as best supporting actress. It’s high school level, abridged Julius Caesar + Antony and Cleopatra storytelling, but there’s an image in this film of Colbert riding in a litter, decked out in ancient Egyptian regalia, that made me understand how people in epochs of old were able to mistake regular men and women for gods.

Digression 1: Criterion Channel has this in their “Paramount…