The 36th Chamber of Shaolin
Dir: Liu Chia Liang
1978
*****
The 36th Chamber of Shaolin is one of the finest kung fu movies ever made, the opening credits sequence alone is better than most martial arts films. All the great martial arts movies have one thing – a great relationship between the director and the leading actor and I don’t think you can beat the partnership of Liu Chia-liang and Gordon Liu (aka Liu Chia-Hui). Liu Chia-liang’s direction is utterly beautiful and Gordon Liu is by far the most hypnotic martial art expert in the genre. It was a turning point for both director and actor and is widely regarded as one of the greatest kung fu films of all time. The film follows a highly fictionalized version of San Te, a legendary Shaolin martial arts disciple who trained under the general Chi Shan. A young student named Liu Yude is drawn by his activist teacher into the local rebellion against the Manchu government. The government officials, headed by the brutal General Tien Ta, however, quickly discover and suppress the uprising, liquidating the school and killing the students' friends and family members. Yude decides to seek vengeance and liberation for the people, and heads for the Shaolin temple to learn kung fu. Wounded by Manchu henchmen during an escape, Yude reaches the temple and seeks sanctuary. Initially the monks reject him, since he is an outsider, but the chief abbot takes mercy on the young man and lets him stay. One year later, Yude - now known as San Te - begins his martial arts training in the temple's 35 chambers, in each of which the temple's novices are trained in one aspect of the kung fu fighting arts. San Te advances more rapidly than any previous student, reaching the rank of deputy overseer within the space of six years. Challenged by the monastery's Discipline Chief, who thinks him unfit for his role, San Te has several exhibition matches with him, only to be beaten each time. However, after inventing the three section staff, San Te finally prevails and gains the chief abbot's permission to become overseer of one of the chambers. When San Te professes that he wants to create a new chamber where he can train ordinary people in the basics of kung fu so they can defend themselves against their oppressors, the temple officially banishes him in a surreptitious way to allow him to carry out his mission. He returns to the outside world, namely to his hometown, and assists the people, gathering several young men who loyally follow him and become his first students. Before the political revolution he is inspiring reaches completion, he is forced into conflict with Tien Ta. A fierce duel ensues, where San Te is victorious. Eventually, he returns to the Shaolin temple, where he establishes the 36th chamber, a special martial arts class for laypeople to learn kung fu. What I love about it is the lack of montage. We see Liu Yude/San Te training over six year but we see him complete each task and chamber over time. We learn the lesson that each task teaches the pupil and we understand his development, rather than it just happening because he’s a chosen one or something. We only see ten of the chambers, which is a shame, but then if we saw all 35 chambers it would be a 20 hour long film – although I’d have no problem with that. It is also refreshing to see a kung-fu film without blood or much violence, indeed killing is against the rules of Buddisum and the monks would not partake in murder. This is authentic kung-fu of mind and spirit. The film is also a fascinating post colonial film. The story of The 36th Chamber of Shaolin refers to San Te who requested permission to teach Shaolin martial skills to Han Chinese from the Head Abbot of Shaolin to give them the tools needed to fight the occupying Manchus of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1910) who were seen as outsiders. Chinese today still generally hate the Qing and wish that dynasty never happened, as their corruption and shortsightedness in the 20th Century was perceived to have weakened the country leading to some regions being colonized by many foreign powers at the time. Hong Kong was a colony taken by the British after humiliating the Chinese in a resounding defeat in the Opium Wars. The fact that the Hong Kong film industry made films about rebellion should be understood within this context of Hong Kong as a British Colony. Master Lau is Cantonese (as was Wong Fei-hung), so has a particular closeness to the problematic colonial relationship with the occupying British. This background is essential to understanding the significance of the statement made by Master Lau in this film. It is not "just a simple revenge tale" but the revenge is the moral and ethical response for the brutal murder of his classmates, ethics teacher, and his family. In the first part of the film, Liu Yude is studying Confucian ethics. After all their friends and family are ruthlessly slaughtered for participating in a revolt against the occupying Qing (Manchu) forces, his friend laments that it was pointless to study ethics, as it was useless for them to save their loved ones and resist the Qings. "No," he replies, "ethics has taught us to be loyal (another Confucian term) to our loved ones, so we must get revenge. If either of us survive we MUST make it to Shaolin, learn martial arts, and get revenge!" This political message is what makes this film more than just an arbitrary action film. In the West, actioners typically don't embed violence in such a bitter context. Here, the violence holds deep meaning within the context of foreign invasion and occupation. Here it is seen as the ethical action, which is how San Te responds to his first victim of revenge (where he meets Hung Xiguan) when his victim demands, "You can't kill me you're a monk!" To which San Te replies, "Even Buddha punished evil!". Run Run Shaw had already received his CBE though and they don’t often take them away. It is probably the Shaw Brother’s greatest films and certainly my favorite as well as being, in my opinion, one the most important and influential. Indeed, all of the greatest martial art films of recent years have all got clear 36th Chamber of Shaolin DNA in them.

Five Deadly Venoms

Dir: Chang Cheh

1978

***

I think out of all the Shaw Brothers films, I like the ones directed by Chang Cheh the most. The story and concept behind 1978’s Five Deadly Venoms remains a firm favorite, however, I felt that the film itself never quite reached its full potential. The story begins with the dying master of the powerful Poison Clan (who is sitting in a pot of boiling water for no obvious reason). He tells his last pupil, Yang Tieh, that he regrets teaching him all of the various combat styles because it meant that he never truly mastered any of them. He then sends him on a crucial mission. Worried that the skills he has taught are being used to evil ends, he orders Yang to trace a retired colleague, Yun, and warn him that the fortune he amassed from the clan's activities is under threat from five of his former pupils, each an expert in his own lethal combat style. Yang must discover the whereabouts and true identities of these masked warriors, and decide which, if any, he can trust to join him in his mission. The five pupils are the Centipede, Snake, Scorpion, Lizard, and Toad. Centipede and Snake were the master's first and second pupils and they knew each other. Lizard and Toad were the fourth and fifth pupils respectively and they knew each other but Scorpion, the third pupil was unknown to the other four members. Before he dies, the master teaches Yang the strengths and weaknesses of each style. The Centipede is wriggly and quick, this style is a nice blend of defensive and offensive posturing. The strikes are so fast that it is almost as if he has a hundred arms and legs. The weakness of this style is to attack both the opponent's upper and lower body in a simultaneous assault. The Snake - On one hand: the mouth, venomous fangs emulated in precise finger motor control, designated to aim for the target's vulnerable spots with pin-point accuracy. On the other: the stinging whip of a rattling tail. Masters of this ability can even fight extremely well while lying on their back from the floor. The weakness of this style is to stop the "head" and "tail" (the opponent's two arms) from combining, as neither the head nor tail can function well individually. This usually meant pinning the two limbs, at an angle, as far away from each other as possible. The Scorpion represents a double threat. Kicks from the Scorpion style are just like the stinging tail of the namesake. When delivered by a master, a single kick can paralyze or even kill, let alone the strong pincer-style attack of the arms to contend with. The weakness in this style is not clearly revealed as Yan Tieh is cut off from his explanation but one can assume (by watching The Scorpion in his bout with Yan Tieh and The Lizard) that it would be to stay out of reach of The Scorpion's damaging kicks and make him come to you. The Lizard style has an emphasis on speed and gravity. It is best known for the ability to walk on walls, and can fight with ease from such positions, even maneuver in such a way that can rebound off such sources to both dodge assaults as well as strengthen own attacks. The Toad is primarily a defensive pose. The Toad is invulnerable to just about any form of damage, including blades and puncture. They can even bend solid metal. The weakness of this style is that any master of the Toad style has a "weak spot" that when punctured, drains the user's Toad style benefits (most notably the iron skin.) This particular Toad’s weak spot are his ears but many thought the way to discover the weak spot in one's Toad style was to use an iron maiden. Yang Tieh arrives in the village just in time to see the Centipede and the Snake go to the Yun family house to steal the money. They murder the entire family when Yun refuses to divulge the location of his fortune. A witness sees the Centipede at the house. Later, the Scorpion investigates the scene and retrieves a hidden map. The Lizard, working as a policeman, recruits the Toad to help arrest the Centipede. After the Centipede is arrested and charged with murder, the Scorpion tells the Snake to frame the Toad for the murders. The corrupt judge sends the Lizard away on government business. The Snake pays an officer to make the witness commit perjury. The Toad is framed by the witness, who tells the judge that he saw the Toad at the scene of the crime. Toad refuses to confess, and his kung fu initially makes him invulnerable to their torture. The Snake devises a torture device to counteract it. When this fails, the Scorpion secretly cripples the Toad with darts to his weak spot (ears). Subjected to further torture, the Toad passes out, and his signature is forged on a confession. The Centipede is acquitted of the murder charges and goes free. The officer suffocates the Toad and hangs him in the cell as if he committed suicide. The Centipede and Snake kill the witness and the corrupt officer. Two Chinese policemen in the restaurant tell the Lizard what happened to the Toad, the witness, and the officer while he was gone. The Lizard's supervisor, Chief Constable Ma, encourages him to forget the issue, but the Lizard refuses. Yang identifies the Lizard, teams with him, and together they practice techniques to defeat the others. As Yang and the Lizard prepare to confront the Centipede and the Snake, the chief constable joins them. During the fight, he reveals himself as the Scorpion and reveals that he intends to kill everyone and keep the Yun fortune for himself. The Scorpion fatally injures the Snake and bribes the Centipede into helping him. Yang and the Lizard defeat the Centipede, and the Snake helps kill the Scorpion before he, too, dies. Yang and the Lizard retrieve the Scorpion's map from his corpse, vowing to use the fortune for good to restore the reputation of the Poison Clan. I’m going to be frank about this cult favorite. Most of the film is like a bad episode of Colombo and Agatha Christie gone wrong. The ninjas have skills but tact and subtlety aren’t two of them – which is a little ridiculous when you think about it. We know exactly who each man is from the beginning but the film still insists on making a thing of their identity reveals towards the end. It is one of the most predictable films I’ve ever seen – which is what is so frustratingly silly about the whole thing. Yang Tieh comes across like a Hong Kong version of Robin Askwith and the plot is thinner than the fake beards half the cast seem to be wearing. The film is really at its greatest when the gang starts fighting. The film is inter-cut with loads of slowed-down action sequences that sees the venoms walking on walls and kicking crockery in mid-air while wearing their individual animal masks. The masks are brilliant, indeed, it is the visuals and the fighting that make this such a great film, it’s only the plot, acting and script that let it down. I’m not a big fan of remakes, film makers should always make something new and original, but, I would love to see a serious modern remake of Five Deadly Venoms.

Sextette

Dir: Ken Hughes

1978

*

I had been warned that 1978’s infamous Sextette was a film to avoid at all costs but frankly, a comedy musical directed by Ken ‘Chitty Chitty, Bang Bang’ Huges, starring Mae West, Timothy Dalton, Dom DeLuise, Tony Curtis, Ringo Starr, Keith Moon, George Hamilton, Alice Cooper and Walter Pidgeon was something I wasn’t prepared to miss. It is indeed as awful as everyone says it is but instead of wanting to switch it off, I became utterly transfixed by just how misjudged it all was. It was based on the 1961 play Sextet that West had written and performed herself that in turn was based on a story idea by Charlotte Francis. The adaption was written by legendary TV writer Herbert Baker who had a successful career writing TV shows for Danny Kaye, Fred Astaire, Perry Como, Frank Sinatra, John Denver and Gladys Knight and the Pips, as well as films for Dean Martin, Cary Grant, Jerry Lewis and Elvis Presley. His humour is unmistakable, it just sounds horrible in the context that it is used. On paper is sounds amazing. Legendary Hollywood movie star and sex symbol Marlo Manners (Mae West) is in London where she has just married for the sixth time. She and her new husband, Sir Michael Barrington (Timothy Dalton), then depart for a honeymoon suite at a posh and exclusive hotel that has been reserved for them by her flamboyant manager, Dan Turner (Dom DeLuise). It just so happens that the hotel is also the location of an international conference, where leaders have come together to resolve tensions and problems that threaten the survival of the world. As the chairman, Mr. Chambers (Walter Pidgeon) is trying to call the meeting to order, the delegates are crowding to the windows in an effort to catch a glimpse of Marlo when she arrives. As they enter the lobby, Marlo, now Lady Barrington, and her husband, a knight, are swarmed by admirers and reporters. When asked, "Do you get a lot of proposals from your male fans?" she quips, "Yeah, and what they propose is nobody’s business." Once inside their suite, the couple are unable to go to bed and have sex because of constant interruptions due to the demands of her career, such as interviews, dress fittings (by a rather over the top and camp as hell Keith Moon) and photo sessions, as well as the various men, including some former husbands, diplomat Alexei Andreyev Karansky (Tony Curtis), director Laslo Karolny (Ringo Starr), gangster Vance Norton (George Hamilton), and an entire athletic team from the U.S., all of whom want to have sex with her. Meanwhile, Turner desperately searches for an audiotape containing his client's memoirs, in order to destroy it. Marlo has recorded extensive details about her affairs and scandals, with a lot of dirt about her husbands and lovers. Ex-husband Alexei, who is the Russian delegate at the conference, threatens to derail the intense negotiations unless he can have another sexual encounter with her. Marlo is expected to work "undercover" to ensure world peace but in the end her new husband has enough and vanishes, leaving her alone with only Alice Cooper and a transparent piano for company. She soon sees the error of her ways and goes to her new husband who has sought solitude on his luxury yachted. She sneaks aboard and he finds her in bed waiting for him, at last, James Bond and his 85 years old wife are alone. It’s pretty grim stuff. West, who was indeed 85 years old at the time couldn’t hear anything, could barely move (apart from constantly wiggling) and didn’t look as if she really knew what was going on. Her lines are particularly blue and distasteful, even by 1978’s standards. A once adored sex symbol, West kind of disgraces herself, appealing only to lovers of the ultra-camp and the god-awful. It’s not quite in the realms of ‘so bad its good’, it’s more like ‘car crash’ viewing: you know you shouldn’t watch but you just can’t help yourself. It’s a stunning cast but you do have to wonder what on earth made them agree to be part of it. I suspect it was West herself, she was a legend – still is – so I imagine it was a privilege for Curtis, Hamilton and Dalton, a dream come true for DeLuise and a bit of a laugh for Starr and Moon. All three for Alice Cooper. The film was a huge box office failure, thanks to its poor production, flat musical numbers and unfortunate script. It was funny, but for all the wrong reasons. However, everyone involved remained loyal and kind about West. There were several rumors about surrounding her behaviour, one such persistent rumor is that Mae West could not remember any of her lines and had to wear a concealed earpiece under her wig to have her lines fed to her. Tony Curtis later commented that West could not hear well, and thus required the earpiece. In reality, West wore an earpiece so director Ken Hughes could feed her lines. Hughes had rewritten most of the dialogue because he and West both felt the script was weak. As a result, West had no time to study the script to memorize her lines. Hughes has repeatedly debunked the urban legend that West's earpiece picked up police signals and that West repeated them. Ken Hughes did later state that with hearing loss, West was unable to take direction, which caused problems in filming. Hughes recalls one incident involving a scene of West in an elevator which took an entire day to film. After the scene was finished, Hughes wrapped production for the day. West was not within hearing range to hear Hughes' call to wrap and remained in the closed elevator for half an hour before being let out. Timothy Dalton has always politely stated that it was a privilege to be part of it and everyone else involve has either stayed silent or have praised West (even though Dalton was second choice behind Arnold Schwarzenegger who passed on the opportunity). However, years later Alice Cooper admitted that Mae West had sexually propositioned him and each of the film's other leading men throughout the filming, breaking the strange protective code the cast seem to have silently agreed on. Variety dubbed it "a cruel, unnecessary and mostly unfunny musical comedy.” The New York Times called it "embarrassing", and that "Granny should have her mouth washed out with soap, along with her teeth." The opening nights were greeted by thousands of West fans who showed up to see the legend but the film was eventually pulled from cinemas after it made only $50,000 on a $8 Million budget. Ouch. If someone were to write a musical based on the making of the film they would probably make a fortune but the film itself is about as bad as it gets and remains one of the most puzzling choices a group of film makers have ever made in the history of cinema.

Halloween

Dir: John Carpenter

1978

*****

Halloween is a lot of things and it has since been remembered as something it isn’t as well as all the things it is. For starters, it isn’t the first pure slasher – Black Christmas is – but I would argue that it is the first time the horror sub-genre had been perfected. John Carpenter’s classic can be compared to quite a few horror films that came before it and it covers a few sub-genres when you break it down. There is a haunted house theme to the film as well the revenge element. Much like in 1974’s Black Christmas, you see through the eyes of the film’s villain. In truth, Halloween is a post-modern combination of every horror film made before, only deconstructed and perfected. However, although many themes are revisited, no horror film had looked quite as good as this or would become quite as influential. You can see the change in horror movies after Halloween, it was a huge game-changer, and it is a slasher that is still yet to be matched. The winning recipe is actually quite simple. Director John Carpenter had a simple idea, he wanted to scare babysitters. Producer Irwin Yablans, who sought out Carpenter after viewing Assault on Precinct 13 to direct a film for him about a psychotic killer that stalked babysitters, eventually convinced the director to set the movie on Halloween night and name it Halloween instead of the original title The babysitter. Perfect really, and who better to scare then babysitters who would no doubt watch such a film when babysitting. Many suggested the film was a social critique of the immorality of youth and teenagers in 1970s America, with many of Myers' victims being sexually promiscuous substance abusers, while the lone heroine is depicted as innocent and pure, hence her survival. Carpenter dismisses such analyses but you have to admit, kids who were being sexually promiscuous and experimenting with drug watching the film probably made up a lot of the audience and they probably loved it for involving them. It certainly doesn’t do a film any harm to stir up a little controversy, although the critics who suggested that Halloween may encourage sadism and misogyny by audiences identifying with its villain took the laughable sudo-psychology embarrassingly serious. Carpenter added his own gloriously creepy score to the film and shot it beautifully. It was his direction and camera work made Halloween a resounding success. Shooting a basic horror film is easy, show some blood, maybe someone getting chased and you’ve got yourself a horror movie. To shoot a horror film and make frightening, unnerving and full of suspense however, it a fine art. It’s possibly the hardest thing for a film director to achieve and the reason why there are, in reality, very few genuinely terrifying horror films. The opening title, featuring a jack-o'-lantern placed against a black backdrop, sets the mood for the entire film. The camera slowly moves toward the jack-o'-lantern's left eye as the main title theme plays. After the camera fully closes in, the jack-o'-lantern's light dims and goes out. This scene clearly announces that the film's primary concern will be with the way in which we see ourselves and others and the consequences that often attend our usual manner of perception. This is emphasized even more so by the first-person point of view through Michael Myers’ eyes. Add the fantastic debut performances from Jamie Lee Curtis – who had huge pressure on her given that her parents were acting royalty (Janet Leigh and Tony Curtis) – and acting legend Donald Pleasence, and you’ve got a class act, a polished cinematic experience not usually associated with horror. In 1963, on Halloween night in the Midwestern town of Haddonfield, Illinois, young Michael Myers, dressed in a clown costume and mask, inexplicably stabs his older sister Judith to death with a kitchen knife in their home. He is subsequently hospitalized at Warren County's Smith's Grove Sanitarium. Fifteen years later, on the night of October 30, 1978, Michael's child psychiatrist, Dr. Sam Loomis, and his colleague, Marion Chambers, arrive at Smith's Grove Sanitarium to escort Michael to court. Michael escapes from the sanitarium, stealing Loomis's car. Returning home to Haddonfield, Michael kills a mechanic for his uniform and steals a white mask, knives, and rope from a local hardware store. The next day, on Halloween, Michael stalks high school student Laurie Strode after she and local boy Tommy Doyle drop off a key at the former Myers house; the home is being sold by Laurie's father, a real estate broker. Throughout the day, Laurie notices Michael following her, but her friends Annie Brackett and Lynda Van der Klok dismiss her concerns. Loomis arrives in Haddonfield in search of Michael, knowing his intentions. After discovering that Judith Myers' headstone has been stolen from the local cemetery, Loomis meets with Annie's father, Sheriff Leigh Brackett. The two begin their search at Michael's house, where Loomis tries to warn the skeptical sheriff about the danger Michael poses, explaining that Michael is pure evil and capable of further violence, despite years of catatonia. Sheriff Brackett patrols the streets while Loomis waits and watches the house, expecting Michael to return there. Later that night, Laurie goes over to babysit Tommy, while Annie babysits Lindsey Wallace just across the street, unaware that Michael has followed them. When Annie's boyfriend, Paul, calls her to come and pick him up, she takes Lindsey over to the Doyle house to spend the night with Laurie and Tommy. Annie is just about to leave in her car when Michael, who stowed away in the back seat, strangles her before slitting her throat, killing her. Soon after, Lynda and her boyfriend Bob Simms arrive at the Wallace house. After having sex, Bob goes downstairs to get a beer for Lynda, but Michael stabs him with a knife which pins him to the wall, killing him. Michael then poses as Bob in a ghost costume and confronts Lynda, who teases him, having no effect. Lynda calls Laurie; just as Laurie picks up, Michael strangles Lynda to death with the telephone cord. Meanwhile, Loomis discovers the stolen car and begins combing the streets. Suspicious, Laurie goes over to the Wallace house. There, she finds the corpses of Annie, Bob, and Lynda in an upstairs bedroom, as well as Judith Myers' headstone. Horrified, Laurie cowers in the hallway, when Michael suddenly appears and attacks her, slashing her arm. Barely escaping, Laurie races back to the Doyle house. Michael gets in and attacks her again, but Laurie manages to fend him off long enough for Tommy and Lindsey to escape. Laurie defends herself by stabbing him with a knitting needle, a metal hanger, and his own knife, but Michael re-animates and attacks Laurie. Loomis sees the two children fleeing the house, and goes to investigate, finding Michael and Laurie fighting upstairs. Loomis shoots Michael six times, knocking him off the balcony; when Loomis goes to check Michael's body, he finds it missing. Loomis stares off into the night, while Laurie begins sobbing in terror. Producer Yablans stated: "I was thinking what would make sense in the horror genre, and what I wanted to do was make a picture that had the same impact as The Exorcist.” In that he succeeded. Carpenter agreed to direct the film contingent on his having full creative control, and was paid a $10,000 for his work, which included writing, directing, and scoring the film. He and his then-girlfriend Debra Hill began drafting a story originally titled The Babysitter. Hill, who had worked as a babysitter during her teenage years, wrote most of the female characters' dialogue, while Carpenter drafted Loomis' speeches on the soullessness of Michael Myers. The idea was to create a character, an evil, that refused to die. The idea that a child could be so scared by watching his own sister have sex instead to look after him he would then commit murder is pop-psychology at its very best and exactly the sort of nonsense that is behind every great horror film. The low budget limited the number of big names that Carpenter could attract, and most of the actors received very little compensation for their roles. Pleasence was paid the highest amount at $20,000, Curtis received $8,000, and Nick Castle earned $25 a day. The role of Dr. Loomis was originally intended for Peter Cushing, who had recently appeared as Grand Moff Tarkin in Star Wars; Cushing's agent rejected Carpenter's offer due to the low salary. Christopher Lee was also approached for the role; he too turned it down, although the actor would later tell Carpenter and Hill that declining the role was the biggest mistake he made during his career. Yablans then suggested Pleasence, who agreed to star because his daughter Lucy, a guitarist, had enjoyed Assault on Precinct 13 for Carpenter's score. In an interview, Carpenter admits that "Jamie Lee wasn't the first choice for Laurie. I had no idea who she was. She was 19 and in a TV show at the time, but I didn't watch TV." He originally wanted to cast Anne Lockhart, the daughter of June Lockhart from Lassie, as Laurie Strode. However, Lockhart had commitments to several other film and television projects. Hill says of learning that Jamie Lee was the daughter of Psycho actress Janet Leigh: "I knew casting Jamie Lee would be great publicity for the film because her mother was in Psycho.” The role of Michael Myers, or "The Shape" as he was billed in the end credits, was played by Nick Castle, who befriended Carpenter while they attended the University together.  After Halloween, Castle became a director, making two of my favorite films of the 1980s; The Last Starfighter and The Boy Who Could Fly. Carpenter hired the great Tommy Lee Wallace as production designer, art director, location scout and co-editor. Wallace created the trademark mask worn by Michael Myers throughout the film from a Captain Kirk mask purchased for $1.98 from a costume shop on Hollywood Boulevard. Carpenter recalled how Wallace "widened the eye holes and spray-painted the flesh a bluish white. In the script it said Michael Myers's mask had 'the pale features of a human face' and it truly was spooky looking. The director admitted he was first worried that children would be checking their closet for William Shatner after watching the film but not after Tommy got through with it. Everything about the film is perfect; Dr Loomis’s desperation, Michael Myers’s silent and focused revenge and Laurie Strode’s desperate and terrified attempts of escape. The music is the best of any horror film and is one of the greatest of all time. The scene where Myers comes out of the dark closet is not just perfect horror but it is sublime film making in general. It’s a horror masterpiece that raised the level high for the genre.

Long Weekend

Dir: Colin Eggleston

1978

*****

Few films have stayed with me after watching quite the way Colin Eggleston’s Long Weekend has. The story concerns a couple, Peter (John Hargreaves) and Marcia (Briony Behets), who, along with their dog, go for a weekend camping trip by the coast. The pair show incredible disrespect for nature, especially Peter, such as polluting, killing a dugong (often referred to as a sea cow), throwing lit cigarette butts in dry bush, and spraying insecticide, among other transgressions. As tensions between the couple escalate, nature is not pleased with their environmental wrongdoing and starts to strike back, first by an eagle and possum attacking Peter, and then through more insidious means. While the couple are the audience’s protagonists, you don’t necessarily warm to them, you don’t want harm to come to them but you could feel that they deserve what is coming to them. However, it is the idea that somehow the environment surrounding us is capable of harming us that really chills one to the bone. The clever thing about Long Weekend however, is that it is never clear whether the environment is attacking them, or if it is delusion or pure coincidence. It’s about the creepiest film I can think of. The script was the first feature script written by Everett De Roche, an experienced Australian TV writer. He was inspired by a trip he took on an Easter weekend to an isolated beach in New South Wales. “I started Long Weekend as a way to avoid the TV-cop-show doldrums while still convincing myself I was “working”. Long Weekend was a unique project because I began with no outline, no notes or research, very little idea as to where the story was going, and absolutely zero knowledge of screenplays. I simply started at page 1, scene 1, and made it up as I went. I had only a vague plan to write a kind of environmental horror story. My premise was that Mother Earth has her own auto-immune system, so when humans start behaving like cancer cells, she attacks. I also wanted to avoid a JAWS-like critter film. I wanted the Long Weekend beasties to all be benign-looking and not overtly aggressive.” De Roche wrote the script in ten days. He showed it to Colin Eggleston, who had worked with him at Crawfords, and Eggleston decided to make the movie. Funds were obtained from Film Victoria and the Australian Film Commission and shooting took place in March–April 1977 in Melbourne and near Bega in south-east New South Wales. The ending was originally different according to De Roche: “I wrote an enormously complicated sequence for near the end where the animals give Peter a second chance. They want him to wise up, and he is at the point of doing so when he hears a truck in the distance. He dashes off to the highway, and the animals decide there is no hope. Poetically, they leave it to another man to kill him. However his scene was too difficult to shoot because it involved animals and was wisely cut. It is, in my opinion, one of the greatest Australian films ever made but it wasn’t a huge success down under. However, it tied with Invasion of the Body Snatchers to win the Antennae II Award at the Avoriaz Fantastic Film Festival, won the Special Jury Award at 1978's Paris Film Festival and won Best Film, Prize of the International Critics' Jury for director Eggleston and Best Actor for Hargreaves. Indeed, when the film was screened at the Cannes Film Festival, producer Richard Brennen noticed a man get up and leave the screening after only ten minutes of the film. In anger and curiosity, he followed the man out to ask him why he was leaving. It turned out the gentleman was a film distributor for South America and was going to buy the rights to the film after seeing only minutes of it. In total four foreign distributors bought rights to release the picture during the screening. Long Weekend is pretty unique and something rather special. It is one of Ozploitation’s greatest achievements as well as being a genuinely dramatic thriller. The last twenty minutes or so are free of dialogue and are pretty much silent. No direct explanation, only hints, are given as to why the mysterious events within nature occur, continuing the tradition in this sub-genre of films of which Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds is considered the first and lead example. It’s an eerie nightmare that takes place in most people’s idea of paradise, a conflicting story of conflict that shows the true horror behind the idea of karma. The combination of Eggleston’s direction and Everett De Roche’s script conjures the secret recipe that so many horror film makers try and capture but so very few manage, that of controlled dread. There is no other film like it, a horror masterpiece that is untouchable.

StarCrash

Dir: Luigi Cozzi

1978

*****

Luigi Cozzi is one of the greatest film directors of all time, never once letting a lack of budget get in the way of making a good film. Seriously though, he has made some of my favorite films of all time and he is genuinely a great writer. One of his first stories was Dario Argento’s amazing Four Flies on Grey Velvet and if I’m to be completely honest (and I am by the way) then I would argue that StarCrash has a stronger, more interesting and original story to it than Star Wars has – the film that it will always be compared to. Cozzi has stated on many occasions, and has backed it up with original scripts and designs, that StarCrash was in development before Star Wars was released. When you look at the story, it really is only outer space that the two have in common and Star Wars is basically a cross between a western and a remake of Akira Kurosawa’s Hidden Fortress anyway, the story is about as formulaic as it gets – just with laser guns, robots and big green aliens. He may have read Star War’s script and he might have been asked to make a space opera to challenge George Lucas’s hit but that’s neither here nor there. He clearly never saw Star Wars before filming. I believe it is possible to love both without too much comparison. Cozzi never described StarCrash as a science fiction film but more of a science fantasy, which I would agree with, although I’m not sure any of the science actually stands up. The science really isn’t the most important bit anyway, StarCrash is about wise-cracking robots, Caroline Munro’s skimpy outfit and Marjoe Gortner’s excitable eyebrows. Plus it stars David Hasselhoff, sporting the largest haircut I’ve ever seen. You may think that the Hoff playing a young and beautiful space Prince in a tight leather jumpsuit would be the film at its most camp, but you’d be wrong. Marjoe Gortner out-Hoffs the Hoff by some margin, one can only assume that everything young Hasselhoff learnt about being cool, he learnt from Gortner. The film has an evil count, as all good fantasy films do, and who could be more evil in 1978 than Joe Spinell? He had played a few minor roles as gang hoods and mafia muscle men by that point, so he was always seen as something of a bad guy, but after StarCrash he went on to star as the infamous Frank Zito in Maniac – sure he was also in Rocky and The Godfather – but I think you can also credit StarCrash for his success and for casting him as the film’s main villain. His counterpart was played by Christopher Plummer, so that has to count for something. Plummer’s acting is way ahead of everyone else’s, so much so that it makes the film stop in its tracks somewhat and the other actors look stunned and silent (as I’m sure original audiences were) and it feels a little awkward for a moment. Luckily the silly camp fun returns and the character are soon fighting killer robots and flying around the universe. Plummer has nothing but nice things to say of the film, however, this may have something to do with his $10,000 a day salary and the film’s shooting location…"Give me Rome any day. I'll do porno in Rome, as long as I can get to Rome. Getting to Rome was the greatest thing that happened in that for me. I think it was only about three days in Rome on that one. It was all shot at once". Discussing his role as the Emperor, he said, "How can you play the Emperor Of The Universe? What a wonderful part to play. It puts God in a very dicey moment, doesn't it? He's very insecure, God, when the Emperor’s around". Rome clearly had an effect on him. There are many highlights in StarCrash, my favorites include; the hundred-foot robot with breasts that chase our heroes on a beach, the evil red blobs that supposedly drive people ‘insane’, Elle the police robot who becomes more and more like a wise-cracking cowboy the longer the film goes on, the planet of Amazonian Women and the rather motionless stop-motion killer ninja robot twins. The main highlight of the film though is Caroline Munro, not because she is naked for the majority of the film but because she is sassy, likable and throws herself in to the role giving it her everything. The legendary John Barry composed the the film’s score – and it is brilliant – although he was never allowed to see any of the film while working on it as the producers feared he might pull out. Four million dollars isn’t much when you’re making a sci-fi space opera but at the same time I’m amazed they actually had that much money. I still love it though. Cozzi is clearly a big fan of Greek mythology and the work of Ray Harryhausen, having described the film as ‘Sinbad goes to space’ and originally selling it as ‘Sinbad on Mars’. He would go on to make a far more convincing space story in 1980s Contamination (even though it doesn’t actually take place in space) and would of course exercise his love of Greek mythology in the amazing Hercules (1983), it’s follow up The Adventures of Hercules II (1985) and Sinbad of the Seven Seas (1989) – all staring Hulk star Lou Farrigno. It had many financial problems during its development and distribution fell through until the great Roger Corman stepped in to save the day. Corman – a man of taste – knows a good thing when he sees it and the rest is history. Often mistaken for a terrible film, StarCrash is in fact a cinematic masterpiece, a classic sci-fi adventure and better than at least two of the Star Wars sequels.

The Silent Partner
Dir: Daryl Duke
1978
*****
Daryl Duke’s 1978 thriller The Silent Partner is one of the great films of the late 1970s that is still overlooked and largely unseen. It stars Elliott Gould as a bank teller whose intellect is somewhat underused in his mundane day to day role. When he suspects that his bank is about to be robbed, he takes advantage of the situation and attempts to commit the perfect crime. However, he underestimates the armed robber (played by Christopher Plummer) and his life becomes more and more complicated, as he has essentially become ‘The Silent Partner’. Based on the novel ‘Think of a Number’ by Danish author Anders Bodelsen, Duke’s direction is pure Hitchcockian, with a contemporary feel, that almost veers into giallo but not quite. There is so much I love about this film. Elliott Gould films of the 1970s are among my favorites of all time. You have classics like The Long Goodbye and M*A*S*H and you have the overlooked greats like Capricorn One, Who? and The Silent Partner. There are quite a few actors around in 1978 who could have played the part but I don’t think anyone could have played it quite as perfectly as Gould. Christopher Plummer’s villain, a misogynistic and psychopathic thief who likes to dress in disguise, is a chilling and unnerving character, terrifying in his unpredictability but also in the way that he isn’t a super villain as it were, he is defeatable but just frighteningly persistent. Gould’s character has two ‘love interests’ in the film but both have real substance to them, rather than being just beautiful women. Susannah York plays his colleague at the bank who is suspicious and has secrets of her own, while Celine Lomez plays a femme fatale who is also not who she first appears to be. The plot is the perfect balance of complexity and simplicity, brought to life by real story development and brilliant performances. It’s a film that understands that suspense takes time. There are no cheap tricks, the story takes place over several months and the smaller details add to the bigger picture. It’s easy to follow but the audience is never spoon fed, the plot thickens at a trickle down pace, making it a film you can really get your teeth into. It’s directed beautifully, with all that glorious flare that make 1970’s films so great – indeed, the best. If that weren’t enough, it also stars a young John Candy, in one of his first ever screen appearances. I love how the film stars rather innocently, playful even, and then gets unexpectedly dark. Elliott Gould actually held a private screening for Alfred Hitchcock, who thought the film was brilliant. It’s a Brian De Palma film but without the nonsense, a Hitchcock without the suddenness and a Dario Argento but without the fantastical element. It’s all of the above but with heaps of intelligence and and its own individual charm. It couldn’t be made today due to the levels of security and technology in banks, so it sit well in its era and is another great example of why 1970s thrillers are still the best. The soundtrack is also something special, adding its open important level of suspense, and it remains the only film to be scored by composer and Jazz pianist Oscar Peterson. Scriptwriter Curtis Hanson would go on to write the brilliant The Bedroom Window, The Hand That Rocks the Cradle and L.A. Confidential while director Daryl Duke only made four films in his career. Duke’s films are largely unseen and unreleased, with his last film bombing at the box office, which I think is a shame, as I believe he was a rare talent and I would have loved to have seen more. The Silent Partner did very well in Canada but nowhere else, it’s a mystery really, as it’s easily one the most entertaining thrillers of the 1970s and the one of the best Alfred Hitchcock films that Alfred Hitchcock had nothing to do with. Its last DVD release was limited and marketed as a Reservoir Dogs style heist film - which it isn't - suggesting that the studios that own the rights haven't even bothered to watch it and don't even know what a great film they have in their collection. See it - immediately.

Watership Down

Dir: Martin Rosen

1978

*****

Martin Rosen's 1978 British animated adventure-drama thriller, based on the novel Watership Down by Richard Adams, is one of the toughest cartoons ever made, in that it is full of graphic brutality and abject beauty. It makes me cry each and every time I watch it, without fail. It features the voices of  some of Britain's greats, including John Hurt, Richard Briers, Harry Andrews, Simon Cadell, Nigel Hawthorne and Roy Kinnear, and was the last film work of Zero Mostel (best known for his role in Mel Brook's The Producers), as the voice of Kehaar the gull. It's probably most famous for its score by Angela Morley and Malcolm Williamson and Art Garfunkel's hit single "Bright Eyes", which was written by songwriter Mike Batt. Just thinking of the song makes me want to well up. The film was originally to be directed by John Hubley, who died in 1977. His work can still be found in the film, most notably in the "fable" scene. He was replaced by the film's producer Martin Rosen, which was to be his directorial debut. While much of the film is fantastical and based on mythology, there is something strikingly Orwellian about the story. According to Adams' Lapine language, culture and mythology, the world was created by the god Frith, who represents the Sun. All animals lived harmoniously, but the rabbits eventually multiplied, and their appetite led to a food shortage. At the prayers of the desperate animals, Frith warned the rabbit prince El-ahrairah to control his people, but was scoffed at. In retaliation, Frith gave special gifts to every animal, but some animals he made predators to prey upon the rabbits. Satisfied that El-ahrairah (Now also known as "Prince with a Thousand Enemies") had learned his lesson, Frith also gave the rabbits speed and cunning; while many would seek to kill them, the rabbits could survive by their wits and quickness. However, it's clearly not about rabbits at all. The rabbits themselves are kept rabbit-like, apart from their voices, but this is clearly a human fable about religion, politics and the fight for survival versus the fight for power. After the 'genesis story', which was rendered in a narrated simple cartoon fashion, the animation style changes to a detailed, naturalistic and at times, rather bloody one. There are concessions to render the animals anthropomorphic only to suggest that they have human voices and minds, some facial expressions for emotion and paw gestures, but generally not physically. They don't wear trousers, smoke pipes, drive cars or look like their voice actors. The animation backgrounds are beautiful watercolours but never too detail so no to distract from what is happening in the foreground. Although that said, the backgrounds and locations, especially Efrafa and the nearby railway, are based on the diagrams and maps in Richard Adams's original novel. Most of the locations in the movie either exist or were based on real spots in Hampshire and surrounding areas. Although the film is fairly faithful to the novel, several changes were made to the storyline, mainly to decrease overly detailed complexity and improve the pace and flow of the plot. In addition, the order in which some events occur is re-arranged. Unlike many animated features, the film faithfully emulated the dark and violent sophistication of the book which lead to a few problems regarding its classification. It was released as being suitable for children but has famously been reported to the British Board of Film Classification every year since 1978 by angry parents with upset children. It's a stunning animation, almost like Animal Farm but with bunnies instead of farm animals. It's a British classic and a huge part of my generation's childhood and a cartoon that was never afraid to treat children as intelligent human beings and not complete idiots. I love everything about it.

Jubilee

Dir: Derek Jarman

1978

**

When watching Derek Jarman’s Jubilee one can’t help but think of the ‘Open letter’ t-shirt designed by Vivienne Westwood. Taking umbrage to what Jarman suggested was a ‘punk’ film, Westwood wrote: “Jubilee - I had been to see it once and thought it the most boring and therefore disgusting film I had ever seen. I went to see it again for afterall, hadn't you pointed your nose in the right direction? Rather than I deal with spectacular crap as other film makers do, you had looked at something here & now of absolute relevance to anybody in England with a brain still left let's call it soul. I first tried very hard to listen to every word spoken in the flashbacks to Eliz. I. What were you saying? Eliz: 'This vision exceedeth by far all expectation. Such an abstract never before I spied.' And so she went on - fal de ray la lu lullay the day! And John Dee spoke 'poetry' according to Time Out (those old left overs from a radio programme, involving a panel of precocious Sixth formers, called "Cabbages & Kings", whose maturity concerns being rather left from a position of safety) though even now I can remember no distinguishing phrase from amongst the drone, only the words, ‘Down down down’ (right on)! And Ariel who flashed the sun in a mirror, & considered a diamond & had great contact lenses: 'Consider the world's diversity & worship it. By denying its multiplicity you deny your own true nature. Equality prevails not for god but for man's sake.' Consider that! What an insult to my VIRILITY! I am punk man! And as you use the valves you give to punks as a warning, am I supposed to see old Elizabeth's england as some state of grace? Well, I'd rather consider that all this grand stuff and looking at diamonds is something to do with a gay (which you are) boy's love of dressing up & playing at charades. (Does he have a cock between his legs or doesn't he? Kinda thing). As to the parts about the near future there were 2 good lines in it. Adam (kid): I don't care about the money I just don't wanna get ripped off.' (Funny) & Angel or Sphinx to Adam: 'Don't sign up', etc...Life is more exciting on the streets.' Accepted that no one would want any dealings with clichéd figment of your fantasies, Borgia Ginze, what did the streets have to offer? Well, they then pinched a car to go visit a nutter with a garden of plastic flowers. They then went to the roof of a tower block to give out the kind of simplistic speil Alf Garnet, or rather Mick Jones of the clash gives out. Is that your comment about the street? What Good - the low budget, independent, using friends, none-equity aspect. Good that the none-equity members weren't required to act but allowed P.T.O.' - 'to say their lines as if reading from a little book inside their head, because what happened by result of this acting, as against none acting ability was that the performances depended for strength upon how much humanity the people behind the role posessed. Thus Jordan & Helen were good whereas Jenny Runacre's mediocrity of spirit bludgeoned through. Albeit - these aspects of your approach & style were anarchical, I am not interested in however interestingly you say nothing. [The Rule Britania Eurovision Song Contest was good because you said something - nationalism is vile & Eliz II is a commercial con trick]. Just like E.I. An anarchist must say, 'Trust yourself'. It's the place to start. But self-indulgence is not the answer. You have to be brave & you are only a little. You have to cut the crap & not the cheese & chuck out - UGH - for instance, those Christian crucifixion fixations (sex is not frightening, honest) - "the pervasive reek of perverse & esoteric artinesss, the delight in degradation & decay simply for its beauties when stylized. An irresponsible movie. Don't remember punk this way" (all quoted from Chris Brazier in M. Maker). But I ain't insecure enough, nor enough of a voyeur to get off watching a gay boy jerk off through the titillation of his masochistic tremblings. You pointed your nose in the right direction than you wanted. It was even more boring than Uncle Tom Don Letts' even lower budget film.’

 While many punks won’t recognise Westwood as a voice that represents them or what they believe in, I can’t help but agree with most of what she said (the parts I understood at least). Jubilee is a very theatrical film, with a flimsy story that is far shallower than it makes out it is. The ‘punk’ element – or at least what it sees as ‘punk’ is pretty misleading. This is about as far from an authentic representation of punk as you could get, performed by people who I have to say I’ve always seen as non-punks who still, to this day, harp on about how punk they were back in the day. Toyah Willcox was never punk, she was pop, although, she sold herself out and is now very much daytime television, so you could argue that she is an example of what punk really became. Punk wasn’t the 3 foot mohican on a London postcard that many think it was, that sort of thing came with the infiltration of rebellious kids from privileged backgrounds. The film starts well, Queen Elizabeth I is transported through time to the 1970s by occultist John Dee (played by the disappointingly un-camp Richard O’Brien). There, she moves through the social and physical decay of London, observing the sporadic activities of a group of aimless nihilists: Amyl Nitrate, a Myra Hindley obsessive and the groups unofficial leader; Crabs, a nymphomaniac; Mad, a rather bloated Willcox, Sphinx and Angel (two incestuous bisexual brothers) and Bod, a sex-hating anarchist who once mugged Queen Elizabeth II for her crown. There isn’t much of a plot, Amyl performs a pastiche of ‘Rule Britannia’ which feels almost authentic (and has certainly been influential in later years – Spice Girls springing to mind), Bod attacks a waitress with a bottle of ketchup, the group visit a friend in the suburbs who shows them his plastic garden, they visit a transgender celebrity and murder him, Adam Ant appears as a fresh voice looking for a record contract, uttering the film’s best line ‘I’m not interested in money, I just don’t want to be ripped off’, a policeman gets blown up and Queen Elizabeth I goes back to the sixteenth century. I know Derek Jarman was a genius and I love most of his work but the best way I can describe Jubilee is like watching amateur dramatics with a punk stereotype as a visual theme. I liked some elements but overall I found it boring and a little pretentious, although I loved seeing parts of London now long gone.

Gates of Heaven

Dir: Errol Morris

1978

*****

Errol Morris's debut documentary film Gates of Heaven is now infamous and widely celebrated. It started Morris's fascination with eccentrics and helped him develop a certain style that, although influenced by his friend and would-be-mentor Werner Herzog, is very much his signature style. It's a style that has been imitated ever since, particularly on TV, but never as successfully, although Nick Bloomfield owes the film and Morris much thanks. The film is a series of talking-head interviews, each beautifully framed and static throughout. Morris is never heard asking questions and he lets the camera keep rolling as the interviewee keeps talking. Nothing is forced, instead he somehow gets more from the people he speaks to, purely by letting them say what they want. There is also nothing deliberate or malicious about his interviews, that is, he never takes advantage of them, when he most certainly could. The first half of the film centres on Floyd "Mac" McClure and his early development of a pet cemetery. Upset at his dog’s death (after accidentally hitting it with his truck) Mac was horrified that the only place to lay his pet to rest was a local rendering plant. Not knowing much about what a rendering plant does, Mac did some research and was horrified at what he found. Mac, being a deeply religious man, wanted to bury his dog as you would a human, and saw the rendering plant as a sort of hell for animals. He found a nice spot of land for his dog and then had the idea of starting a pet burial service for other like-minded animal lovers. Many people took up his offer but Mac did not have a head for business. Morris interviews Mac and interweaves interviews he had with the hip and bolshie head of the local rendering plant. We learn that because of various legal issues, all 450 animals that were eventually buried in Macs plot had to be dug up and moved to Bubbling Well Pet Memorial Park, which is run by John "Cal" Harberts and his two sons. The film then concentrates on Cal and his contrasting boys - one with a head for business, the other with aspirations of being a musician. There are some brilliant scenes, especially seeing Dan Harberts play loud guitar on the hill overlooking the animal graves. Some of the pet owners are wonderful to, never made fun of but a wonderful reminder of how people were back then. The film is probably most famous for a bet Morris had with Werner Herzog. In 1978, when the film premiered, Werner Herzog cooked and publicly ate his shoe, an event later incorporated into a short documentary by Les Blank. Herzog had promised to eat his shoe if Morris completed the project, to challenge and encourage Morris, whom Herzog perceived as incapable of following up on the projects he conceived. At the public shoe-eating, Herzog suggested that he hoped the act would serve to encourage anyone having difficulty bringing a project to fruition. Herzog cooked his shoes (the ones he claims to have been wearing when he made the bet) at the Berkeley, California restaurant Chez Panisse, with the help of chef Alice Waters. The shoes were boiled with garlic, herbs, and stock for 5 hours. He is later shown eating one of the shoes before an audience at the premiere of Gates of Heaven at the nearby UC Theater. He did not eat the sole of the shoe, however, explaining that one does not eat the bones of the chicken. It's a classic, up there with the best and most iconic and certainly most influential. I would choose Gates of Heaven over Grey Gardens every day of the week.

Carry On Emmannuelle

Dir: Gerald Thomas

1978

*

1978's Carry On Emmannuelle is the 30th and last of the original series. It's also the worst Carry On film made. Many would argue that Carry On England is worse and that Carry on Columbus is the worst of the lot and while Carry On England is horrid, Carry On Columbus isn't really a Carry On film, all those involved don't consider it as such and actually some of the newer comedy talents are alright in it. No masterpiece but Carry On Columbus is an interesting oddity. Carry On Emmannuelle however is just a woeful misjudgment, the worst the series ever suffered, and it suffered a few. For some reason, Peter Rogers and Gerald Thomas felt the franchise needed to come closer to the 'Confessions' style sex comedies of the 70s, so went about parodying Sylvia Kristel's notorious soft-core Emmanuelle series. It has less nudity in it than some of the other Carry On films but the tone and the direct reference to sex was something new and it really didn't suit the mood the franchise had created. Strict censorship had always meant that the Carry On films had to be inventive in their scripts which lead to some of the greatest lines of double entendre ever written. The humour was born from the British comic tradition of the music hall and bawdy seaside postcards, the disco inspired theme tune and direct sexual references of Carry On Emmannuelle felt like a tired sell-out and the remaining players looked confused and embarrassed for most of the film. Kenneth Williams agreed to return but not before he demanded a script re-write. He declared the first draft to be offensive, but it's hard to believe it was ever any worse than what was filmed. Williams, like the rest of the original cast, looks like he's been forced into doing something he doesn't want to do. The poor man is stripped in nearly every scene, it became one of his biggest regrets and it's hard to watch because of it. Peter Butterworth, Kenneth Connor and Joan Sims looked uncomfortable and not at all at home in the franchise they helped create. Even though Butterworth was only 58 at the time he looked old and tired and he sadly passed away the following year. Connor was on pretty good form but this was the last film he made, he switched to making TV programs and appeared on the big screen again. Sims also slowed down her career and Jack Douglas - who I've never really seen as part of the Carry On crew (even though he was in eight of them including Carry On Columbus - had quite a large role that he looked as if he relished. I've heard him slate Carry On Columbus as a film he's 'wiped from memory' but I've never heard him denounce Carry On Emmannuelle. I'm guess having Suzanne Danielle's bosoms in your face for several hours is probably hard to forget. The story is smutty and poorly written. The script isn't funny and only Connor delivers his line capably. It's a depressing end to a much loved series.