More Movies

Continued my Mario Bava thing with two more from the five disc Anchor Bay set, Mario Bava Collection Vol. 1. The first was The Girl Who Knew Too Much and I think it was Bava's last movie in black and white. It's supposed to be the first giallo which I think means first slasher film, but it's quite tame and not that interesting. Well...I was watching it in bed and fell asleep, so when I watch the second half again maybe I'll feel differently and redact this statement.

I did enjoy Bava's color Viking film, Knives of the Avenger, which finds the bizarre-looking Cameron Mitchell protecting a queen and her son from the same marauders who had sacked his village and killed his own wife and child. The problem is, in his madness and grief during that time, he had raped this queen while wearing a mask. He falls for her now, but she is loyal to her husband, who has been at sea for three years, but obviously when he returns there's going to be a problem.

This film was described as virtually a remake of the classic Western Shane, which I cannot confirm or deny, as I saw that movie many years ago and don't remember much about it. It does have the feel of a Western, though, just with a different setting and outfits. Mitchell looks kind of like Anthony Quinn at that age, with orange-blond hair and strangely sculpted eyebrows. In the fight scenes it's obviously not him as the haircuts and body builds don't match well at all. Still, for its low budget it's effectively made, with decent performances and good use of the settings, including a great cave where the film reaches its climax. I just have one more film in the set to watch, Kill, Baby, Kill! Then I will get Vol. 2.

I also finished the entirety of the Twin Peaks set. I thought the final episode, directed by David Lynch, was very good despite having to resolve tons of plotlines and then not resolving the main one with Agent Cooper. It was really creepy for network TV, to the extent I had to turn the volume down during the Black Lodge stuff because I was worried it would wake up my kids or subconsciously give them nightmares. As far as the last disc, which has the bonus features, the contemporary conversation between Lynch, Kyle MacLachlan, Madchen Amick and Lynch assistant John Wentwood was very good, if a little contrived with the diner setting, coffee and cherry pie, etc. Still, it was great-looking. Of course, one would have liked other contemporary interviews with some of the series stars as well. In fact, I went to IMDB and read the bios of the entire cast, pleased to find out where life has taken Sherilyn Fenn and others. I was also happy that aside from Jack Nance, everyone else seems to be still alive. I am curious why there wasn't anything with Mark Frost, who Lynch said was responsible for at least 50% of Twin Peaks and for whom he didn't appear to have anything but respect.