A little R&R Maroccan Style!

After a year of hard work at my daytime job it is time for me to have a little R&R during the month of February 2011 as you can see in a place that is dear to my heart in Marocco. Marrakech is a mysterious city on the border of the desert and an excellent place to recharge the batteries! Before I go I would like to thank the many thousands of readers coming back each and every day, week or month in the past year and making the month of January 2011 the best month that this blog has ever seen! Although Marisa Mell left us many years ago the dedicated visitors prove that she is not forgotten and still alive in the many hearts of her fans. And that is a good thing to know! Untill March 1st 2011 when the doors of this blog will open again with a new entry honoring the life and work of Marisa Mell! Sincerely Yours Mirko.

Je cherche le soleil au milieu de la nuit!

J'ai la tête qui éclate
J'voudrais seulement dormir
M'étendre sur l'asphalte
Et me laisser mourir

Stone

Le monde est stone
Je cherche le soleil
Au milieu de la nuit

J'sais pas si c'est la terre
Qui tourne à l'envers
Ou bien si c'est moi
Qui m'fais du cinéma
Qui m'fais mon cinéma

J'ai plus envie d'me battre
J'ai plus envie d'courir
Comme tous ces automates
Qui bâtissent des empires
Que le vent peut détruire
Comme des châteaux de cartes

Laissez-moi me débattre
Venez pas m'secourir
Venez plutôt m'abattre
Pour m'empêcher d'souffrir
J'ai la tête qui éclate
J'voudrais seulement dormir
M'étendre sur l'asphalte
Et me laisser mourir

Le monde est stone

(Michel Berger-Luc Plamondon)

La Compagna di Viaggio!

The most difficult thing in an artistic career is to keep up the momentum in one's career! Having several hits or blockbusters is not a garantee to have a great career untill the end of days! Often the opposite is true! Sadly! Take for instance the Italian director-screen writer "Ferdinando Baldi". During the height of the Spaghetti Westerns in the 60's Ferdinando Baldi was one of the top directors in this genre. Several of his movies have since become classics of the Italian western genre like "Blindman", "Texas Adio", "Preparati la Bara" or "Il Pistolero del'Ave Maria"! All terrific movies!

But when the hype is over and the audience wants something new or fresh it is not easy to have a follow up to an once beloved genre. It is not only difficult to find that follow up but the next thing has also to be material that interests you or creatively challenges you! And that is often not the case! So you take the next best job out of necessity and make a run of the mill movie. This is what happened to the movie "La Compagna di Viaggio" from 1980 with Marisa Mell in a cameo role. Marisa Mell was once one of the highest payed actresses in Italia but now her movie career is almost distinct. She isn't even mentioned any more on the movie posters or promotional material. Her sex appeal is over and she is no money magnet anymore! And to top that her character has no name in the movie and is only credited as "the women with the veil". Sigh! The only thing she has to do in this movie is trying to seduce a young body builder and adoring his chest muscles. Time has moved on. Other and younger Italian starlets want their place in the spotlight like Serena Grandi. This is her second role in a movie and the beginning of a big career thanks to her big assets. She is still working in the movie business in Italy today. The movie "La Compagna di Viaggio" belongs to the movie genre Italian Sexy Comedy or Vizietto all'Italiana. Marisa Mell made several of those movies but not anymore as the sexy kitten but more the older women who is still sexy but whose time has come and passed like in "La Liceale al mare con l'amica di papa" as the fustrated sex obsessed wife! For Ferdinando Baldi this movie was just a job to survive and that you can clearly see on the screen. This movie is so bad that you wished that the train where all the characters are travelling on to Paris, France would crash so that this movie ends prematurely so you do not have to endure it anymore. I love Eurocult trash movies very much but this movie is so flat on every aspect from acting, directing, story wise that it is hardly possible to top that. To make my point, here is the trailer of this movie:

Giallo Radio - Music with a bloody edge!

The internet is this day and age flooded as everyone knows with millions of sites tackling as much subjects which are of little or no intrest to you. But once in a while you stumble on a site that keeps you glued for many hours to your computer screen and when the site produces also some of the best music ever composed by music maestro's like Ennio Morricone, Bruno Nicolai, Claudio Simonetti, Piero Umiliani, Stelvio Cipriani and many others than you can not believe your luck! That happened to me several months ago discovering the site with music of one of my most favorite film genre's: the Giallo. The site is called "Giallo Radio", hosted by a wonderful man named Mark Hammon.

Marisa Mell Blogspot (MMB): How did you came to be such a soundtrack fanatic?

Mark Hammon (MH): I am first and formost a film fan followed by a soundtrack fanatic. I have been listening to soundtracks since my father turned me on to them in the 60's. My first soundtrack purchase was from the war movie "Patton" in 1970. My favorite films/scores are for horror films.

MMB: Are you now as an adult professionelly involved with movies or soundtracks?

HM: I work for a U.S. soundtrack company as a contractor. I started out as a customer and over the years, built a website, maintained it and now I am as much of the company as the employees.

MMB: Were you from the beginning familiar with the Eurocult movies and the wonderful music that it has produced during the height in the 60's and 70's?

MH: In the 80's-90's I discovered VideoWatchDog. I learned about the whole European Horror genre. I learned of Argento, Fulci, Franco, Rollins... I had a Laser Disc player and rented and purchased foreign horror films and noticed the music always seemed to be good in the films, but when I purchased the CDs it seemed like it wasn't horror music. With the likes of Argento I learned about the 'thrillers' (not knowing the term "Giallo"). I liked how the music, plots and characters worked together. I am amazed that people don't recognize "Basic Instinct" as an American "Giallo" film. MBB: What is the composition of your home theatre?

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MH: I own an all region DVD-player, certified "THX Surround" sound set up (Boston Acoustics, Pioneer - 700 Watts of intense surround). I just got rid of my HD 65" Mistubishi Rear Projection and now have a 55" Sony HD LCD. I tend to watch at least 10 movies a week.MMB: What do you think about Marisa Mell and her career?

MH: I think Marisa Mell is a beautiful actress, but I don't have a lot of movies with her in them.

MMB: I noticed that the "Giallo Radio" site is not updated regularely but sporadic?

MH: As for my "Giallo Radio" site I had such big inspirations but just don't have the time to do much with it. I have a family, two jobs and want to spend my time watching movies instead of updating my website.

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MMB: Thanks Mark for the interview!

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Giallo Radio has several scores of Marisa Mell's giallo's to discover by you!

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You can find the "Giallo Radio" website at http://www.gialloradio.com/index.html

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You can find the "VideoWatchDog" magazine at

http://www.videowatchdog.com/home/home.html

Glamour Puss!

In the March 1st 1968 issue of the American edition of fashion magazine "Vogue", Marisa Mell had a fashion photo spread as lead up to her American adventure as one of the stars in the musical version of the life of spy "Mata Hari". The picture was taken by then very famous photographer Bert Stern. Bert Stern gained notority at the beginning of the 60's when he was able to photograph Marilyn Monroe during a three day shoot six weeks before her tragic death. He became one of the most celebrated photographers in the States untill recently having had almost every star and starlet before his camera's. This photo shows clearly that Marisa Mell, when she had not been a movie star, had all the qualities of becoming a top fashion model during the 60's like the then glamour pussies Verushka, Wilhelmina, Jean Shrimpton, Lauren Hutton, Ingrid Boulton or Karen Graham. I love this picture because it shows Marisa Mell's personality in a complete different styling than usual. Bellissima!