Movie Ads of the Week: TRANS-EUROP-EXPRESS (1968) and THE MAN WHO LIES (1970)

Back in December we had the pleasure of seeing Alain Robbe-Grillet's TRANS-EUROP-EXPRESS (1966) and THE MAN WHO LIES (1968) in watchable, sub-titled versions -- and on a decent-sized screen to boot! -- thanks to a one-day-only double bill shown as part of the Film Forum's salute to actor Jean-Louis Trintignant. The series, while hardly exhaustive (Where was THE SLEEPING CAR MURDERS? THE LIBERTINE? WITHOUT APPARENT MOTIVE? DEATH LAID AN EGG? THE FRENCH CONSPIRACY? DEADLY SWEET? THE CROOK?), did offer the chance to see these two mind-twisters as well as a couple of other obscurities, like the uncut AND HOPE TO DIE. The word on the street is that a certain company shelled out big bucks (thus outbidding our friends at Mondo Macabro) on the U.S. rights to release these and three other Robbe-Grillet movies on DVD, so sometime before the end of the year we should be upgrading our blur-o-vision DVD-R of TRANS-EUROP-EXPRESS and viewing THE MAN WHO LIES, EDEN AND AFTER (1970), N TAKES THE DICE (1971) and SUCCESSIVE SLIDINGS OF PLEASURE (1974) in the comfort of the Temple screening room.

Now, about these ads: TRANS-EUROP-EXPRESS made its Big Apple debut on May 12, 1968 through the AIP subsidiary Trans-American Films, while Grove Press' Evergreen Films opened THE MAN WHO LIES in New York on April 13, 1970.

All-Night "Endangered Fest" at the Alamo Drafthouse on March 23!

Hey gang! Temple of Schlock's own Chris Poggiali will be appearing at the Alamo Drafthouse in Austin, Texas on Saturday, March 23 to co-host an all-night "Endangered Fest" with Lars Nilsen and the American Genre Film Archive! Four of the "found" films from our Endangered List will be screened that night! More details to come!

Movie Ad of the Week: GOSH! (1974)

GOSH! (1974), writer-producer-director Tom Scheuer's low-budget comedy about the casting couch exploits of fictional Hollywood starlet Alice Goodbody (Sharon Kelly), was one of the last releases from Joe Solomon's Fanfare Corporation, and certainly the last one he bothered to promote with in-theater personal appearances by cast members. The ad above is from the exclusive Madison, Wisconsin opening on Wednesday, June 19, 1974, with Sharon Kelly scheduled to hand out autographed photos in the lobby of the Majestic Theater. Despite her prominent "introducing" credit, Kelly had already starred or co-starred in a half dozen movies by this time, including SASSY SUE, THE DIRTY MIND OF YOUNG SALLY, and THE DIRTY DOLLS. Solomon never had much use for sexually explicit material, which explains the disclaimer under the R rating (the film had to be cut to avoid an X) as well as his lack of interest in exploitation after the rise of hardcore. GOSH! disappeared from Fanfare's release in September '74 but was picked up by Intercontinental Releasing Corporation and re-titled ALICE GOODBODY for theatrical bookings that stretched from 1975 to the end of the decade. Fanfare released only a few more films -- the Lenny Bruce biopic DIRTYMOUTH, the Tyburn production PERSECUTION (as both SHEBA and TERROR OF SHEBA) and the PG-rated cut of RUN, ANGEL, RUN! -- before cashing it in at the end of 1975.

The Endangered List (Case File #128)

INTERPLAY (1970)

Starring
Zee Wilson (Nora)
Ed Moore (John)
Gwen Saska (Helen)
Sam Coppola (Mel)
Phil Allen (Eddie)

with
Lani Ryland
Yeyvonne Pontoon
Artie Giannini [Uta Erickson]
Corinne Shull
Jutka Goz
Anita Ferris
Merlin Coslick
Arlene Starr
Roslyn Dickens
Ruth Reachel
Iris Acker
Ethel Hazen
Janet Banzet

Directed by
Albert T. Viola

Written by
Harvey Flaxman

Executive Producer
Felix J. Bilgrey

Cinematography by
Jack Malick

Edited by
Fred von Bernewitz

Music by
James Burroughs

Art Direction
Dan Gladding

A
Success Films Ltd.
production

A
Times Film
release

Eastmancolor

Running time: 97 minutes
MPAA rating: X (1970)

Times Film re-released this with an R rating in 1973 under the title PART-TIME VIRGINS (or PART TIME GIRLS), on the bottom half of a double bill with FULL TIME FEMALES.

Movie Ad of the Week: HOUSE OF HOOKERS w/ HILLBILLY HOOKER (1975)

The British crime film A TOUCH OF THE OTHER (1970), directed by Arnold L. Miller and starring Kenneth Cope and Shirley Anne Field, was first released stateside by Film Ventures International as THE HAPPY HOOKERS in 1973 with an ad campaign created by Donn Davison. By 1975 it had been re-titled HOUSE OF HOOKERS and was being used as a co-feature with MASSAGE PARLOR HOOKERS, a re-titling of the NY-shot psycho-thriller THE MASSAGE PARLOR MURDERS! When HOUSE OF HOOKERS opened in Panama City, Florida on May 11, 1975, the second feature was HILLBILLY HOOKER, an FVI re-titling of Davison’s HONEY BRITCHES (1971). Also released as SHANTYTOWN HONEYMOON and THE LITTLE WHOREHOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE, Davison’s film was sold to Troma in the late 1980s as DEMENTED DEATH FARM MASSACRE after Fred Olen Ray shot new wraparound scenes for it with John Carradine.

Movie Ad of the Week: THIS IS A HIJACK (1973)

World Premiere - Friday, June 1, 1973 - Hutchinson, KS

Producer-distributor Joe Solomon held the world premieres of HELLS ANGELS ON WHEELS (1967) and its sequel, ANGELS FROM HELL (1968), at the Meadow Lark Twin Drive-In theater in Wichita, KS, with the stars of both films on hand to meet moviegoers and sign autographs. Solomon returned to Kansas a few years later for the world premiere of THIS IS A HIJACK at the South Hutch Drive-In in Hutchinson, with leading lady Lynn Borden doing handshake-and-autograph duty on opening night.