cult film freak: elke sommer

Showing posts with label elke sommer. Show all posts

Written by James M. Tate / 7/26/2025 / No comments / action , antonio cantafora , body count , elke sommer , exploitation , gothic , horror , joseph cotten , mario bava , nicoletta elmi , rada rassimov , seventies , witch

MARIO BAVA'S 'BARON BLOOD' WITH ELKE SOMMER & JOSEPH COTTEN

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja3ZzOyKuzjGp1MAJ6z8v65qVh0MDtFnUWVtDpXuFj5zGMnxEQC2cTj0kWnWhmyWEGR_eQas6AbdT4mdw1fQyZPTYFQR0EDpBSjorqLW2nXf9KNmoVVfWNpEyUbJdGdlFk-ADtly6csfmscf2AdnKSv-YQAYIAEGIP10jrY8HpprZUK7JG_XmVW1VlAp5x/s1412/1.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="864" data-original-width="1412" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja3ZzOyKuzjGp1MAJ6z8v65qVh0MDtFnUWVtDpXuFj5zGMnxEQC2cTj0kWnWhmyWEGR_eQas6AbdT4mdw1fQyZPTYFQR0EDpBSjorqLW2nXf9KNmoVVfWNpEyUbJdGdlFk-ADtly6csfmscf2AdnKSv-YQAYIAEGIP10jrY8HpprZUK7JG_XmVW1VlAp5x/s16000/1.png"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Title: BARON BLOOD Year: 1972 Rating: **** </td></tr></tbody></table>Italian director Mario Bava, always comfortable within gothic-soaked time-period pictures like BLACK SABBATH and BLACK SUNDAY, is so initially thrust into the bright/glossy 1970's for BARON OF BLOOD that... with monotone star Antonio Cantafora meeting spunky-cute ingenue Elke Sommer in his infamously murdered ancestor's immensely sinister castle... you'll think his Pan Am flight would lead absolutely nowhere beyond a groovy night at the funky discoteque: where the two leads hit it off because they're both perfect-looking... So maybe Bava's lost his touch, about to submerge viewers into a campy drive-in exploitation flick... until the titular BARON is brought back and, with a nightmarishly melted-prosthetic face half-obscured within a menacing black cloak, things get really scary... particularly when Sommer's chased around the corridor-mazy castle with a barrage of creative quick-zoom shots where, thirty-five minutes in, we're finally experiencing a genuine Bava feature where he's (as usual) both director and cinematographer...

action, antonio cantafora, body count, elke sommer, exploitation, gothic, horror, joseph cotten, mario bava, nicoletta elmi, rada rassimov, seventies, witch

MARIO BAVA'S 'BARON BLOOD' WITH ELKE SOMMER & JOSEPH COTTEN

Title: BARON BLOOD Year: 1972 Rating: **** Italian director Mario Bava, always comfortable within gothic-soaked time-period pictures like BL...

PETER SELLERS AND LYNNE FREDERICK IN 'THE PRISONER OF ZENDA'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1jx1bOiwLlwzgLlBJaFm1HGMy57bM1Iy4GT7Bu1esMNCr-KYYosbYJFTawRVcddR7Gt9A4xHudvPvk07tSz1DTcVjTOlpEHwMVf_vWumoRU8VhgH81WaLbgvhl_QL0BfoWOWgMAp8_hIdEAORxAfm7KSsAB0r-mG2mDXLVa3hILrRM7Kt9rpqEnv_wapU/s2734/Screen%20Shot%202025-07-03%20at%207.57.37%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1394" data-original-width="2734" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1jx1bOiwLlwzgLlBJaFm1HGMy57bM1Iy4GT7Bu1esMNCr-KYYosbYJFTawRVcddR7Gt9A4xHudvPvk07tSz1DTcVjTOlpEHwMVf_vWumoRU8VhgH81WaLbgvhl_QL0BfoWOWgMAp8_hIdEAORxAfm7KSsAB0r-mG2mDXLVa3hILrRM7Kt9rpqEnv_wapU/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-07-03%20at%207.57.37%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lynne Frederick in THE PRISONER OF ZENDA Year: 1979 Rating: **</td></tr></tbody></table>While it had been decades since the two Golden Age adaptations of the literary classic THE PRISONER OF ZENDA, it had only been four-years since the otherwise unrelated ROYAL FLASH borrowed the exact same plot-line, with Malcolm McDowell as a prince's lookalike marrying a gorgeous princess played by Britt Ekland... Who was Peter Sellers' second wife, and his first Hollywood trophy wife while Lynne Frederick, his third (and final) marriage, plays the exact same role as the chastely oblivious royal bride...

adaptation, adventure, catherine schell, comedy, elke sommer, graham stark, lionel jeffries, lynne frederick, peter sellers, seventies, stuart wilson, time-period

PETER SELLERS AND LYNNE FREDERICK IN 'THE PRISONER OF ZENDA'

Lynne Frederick in THE PRISONER OF ZENDA Year: 1979 Rating: ** While it had been decades since the two Golden Age adaptations of the literar...

PETER SELLERS TAKES 'A SHOT IN THE DARK' WITH ELKE SOMMER

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpU4m0d1C-2dTSYR7ihfRIKU8oinM_cASIJGdraZkAIixqVShOkmEG2pyZahY924JnrCo0ezyg2Zio18r_XuoHnDC2YCarLM5YsEJrkycY4h9rcLOQFXMb52jV3b4-icy274P_KiOlxgizwRKJh6yoED5l5FAQMSrpXv25h-q1K8EX7v8aYSArAuW5NXre/s2060/Screen%20Shot%202025-06-19%20at%206.34.09%20AM%202%202.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1174" data-original-width="2060" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpU4m0d1C-2dTSYR7ihfRIKU8oinM_cASIJGdraZkAIixqVShOkmEG2pyZahY924JnrCo0ezyg2Zio18r_XuoHnDC2YCarLM5YsEJrkycY4h9rcLOQFXMb52jV3b4-icy274P_KiOlxgizwRKJh6yoED5l5FAQMSrpXv25h-q1K8EX7v8aYSArAuW5NXre/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-06-19%20at%206.34.09%20AM%202%202.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Title: A SHOT IN THE DARK Year: 1964 Rating: ***1/2 </td></tr></tbody></table>While Inspector Clouseau was dropped into the romantic-comedy-heist <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2025/06/OGPP.html">THE PINK PANTHER</a> with Peter Sellers stealing the movie from lead actor David Niven, the sequel...where he's finally the central character... has him crashing what's an otherwise serious stage-adapted murder-mystery/whodunnit... Yet there's a romantic-comedy element here too, with Sellers helping adorable millionaire's maid, Elke Sommer, seeming guilty beyond belief in the classic noir fashion: not only winding up with a smoking gun and a dead body, but with another dead body and a bloody knife...

blake edwards, body count, bryan forbes, comedy, david lodge, elke sommer, george sanders, herbert lom, mystery, peter sellers, pink panther, sixties, vanda godsell

PETER SELLERS TAKES 'A SHOT IN THE DARK' WITH ELKE SOMMER

Title: A SHOT IN THE DARK Year: 1964 Rating: ***1/2 While Inspector Clouseau was dropped into the romantic-comedy-heist THE PINK PANTHER wi...

GARY LOCKWOOD IN ANTONIO ISASI'S 'THEY CAME TO ROB LAS VEGAS'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHkvaoBwXYs_raeoK7gnr2dFgIPc940R3ky3qUoaHGDfS00ucqmRup_7a5-WOuP2rJvteMIjM3RJyNxiz4SZwrrVjiGeSSGBlCeuoxwkz8oO-ScsvaY4WdCA7EbQDjqie9_LR-miHK5jKBbEiZ74Hqh32xS_1Wl4hyLbSpJktKlRZJPQ_9QBNpTsu1nzSe/s1226/Screen%20Shot%202024-04-14%20at%207.17.05%20PM%202.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="514" data-original-width="1226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHkvaoBwXYs_raeoK7gnr2dFgIPc940R3ky3qUoaHGDfS00ucqmRup_7a5-WOuP2rJvteMIjM3RJyNxiz4SZwrrVjiGeSSGBlCeuoxwkz8oO-ScsvaY4WdCA7EbQDjqie9_LR-miHK5jKBbEiZ74Hqh32xS_1Wl4hyLbSpJktKlRZJPQ_9QBNpTsu1nzSe/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-04-14%20at%207.17.05%20PM%202.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From THEY CAME TO ROB LAS VEGAS aka LAS VEGAS, 500 MILLONES Rating: ***1/2 </td></tr></tbody></table>Spanish auteur Antonio Isasi was definitely a fan of gangster films since almost every single shot of his heist-caper THEY CAME TO ROB LAS VEGAS epitomizes the classic crime genre's style and structure, making this a combination of steely homage and groovy/fast-paced 1960's kitsch, jazzy soundtrack and all... Starring American import Gary Lockwood the same year he'd soar through Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, the biggest flaw is the budget spent on two other name-actors, Lee J. Cobb as the targeted armored car company owner, and Jack Palance as an insurance investigator with eyes on both Cobb and Lockwood...

antonio isasi, armored car, caper, crime, elke sommer, exploitation, gary lockwood, heist, italian, jack palance, jazz-score, jean servais, lee j. cobb, mobster, neo noir, post-heist, spanish, warner archives

GARY LOCKWOOD IN ANTONIO ISASI'S 'THEY CAME TO ROB LAS VEGAS'

From THEY CAME TO ROB LAS VEGAS aka LAS VEGAS, 500 MILLONES Rating: ***1/2 Spanish auteur Antonio Isasi was definitely a fan of gangster fil...

STEPHEN BOYD, ELKE SOMMER AND TONY BENNETT IN 'THE OSCAR'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFz4PUXTiWbz63TnFScznxDXPq1siZkkYBj5X5cpDYU5wCYBkyDSQbI3TzytMU8UEEV-pEzRdOSJMV39dL3V_Pn_dFPB4XOIyQxpXhpVbQ2K_NkjyiKByjoLk33zrYcU4fLjxF5MI6y37uXUz3FhzzcupE2wSCin8JKtzhvDe4ZYQnyPHLchep9U8RXvlq/s871/oldest.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="550" data-original-width="871" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFz4PUXTiWbz63TnFScznxDXPq1siZkkYBj5X5cpDYU5wCYBkyDSQbI3TzytMU8UEEV-pEzRdOSJMV39dL3V_Pn_dFPB4XOIyQxpXhpVbQ2K_NkjyiKByjoLk33zrYcU4fLjxF5MI6y37uXUz3FhzzcupE2wSCin8JKtzhvDe4ZYQnyPHLchep9U8RXvlq/s16000/oldest.jpg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Stephen Boyd with Eleanor Parker or Jill St John in THE OSCAR Year: 1966 Rating: ***</td></tr></tbody></table>One of the most gloriously uncompromising Hollywood-set melodramas, THE OSCAR stars real life semi-star Stephen Boyd, whose chiselled looks and menacing countenance — beginning as the cheating gladiator in BEN HUR — made him more a leading villain than hero, and he plays both here...Starting as a backroom lowlife alongside passive yet equally-tough sidekick Tony Bennett and lush Jill St. John, he sneakily becomes an actor by manipulating the likes of New York stage director Eleanor Parker connected with Hollywood agent Milton Berle and studio chief Joseph Cotten...

elke sommer, ernest borgnine, harlan ellison, hollywood satire, jean hale, jill st john, joseph cotten, melodrama, milton berle, rex holman, sixties, stephen boyd, tony bennett

STEPHEN BOYD, ELKE SOMMER AND TONY BENNETT IN 'THE OSCAR'

Stephen Boyd with Eleanor Parker or Jill St John in THE OSCAR Year: 1966 Rating: *** One of the most gloriously uncompromising Hollywood-set...

ELKE SOMMER IS 'DEADLIER THAN THE MALE' W/ VIRGINIA NORTH

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Virginia North in DEADLIER THAN THE MALE Year: 1967</td></tr>
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With the same peacock strutting trumpet and stealthily baritone guitar, DEADLIER THAN THE MALE is a James Bond clone during the end of Sean Connery's reign as lookalike Richard Johnson plays a pulp hero even older than Ian Fleming's spy, and his Bulldog Drummond's out to find the button-pushing villain behind two gorgeous female assassins who make the title make sense... 
 
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And these starlets make the movie, and needed much more screentime since the first act provides killer potential as Elke Sommer and Sylvia Koscina go on a body count spree before vanishing for a while, leaving things to Drummond's investigation as he too-quickly finds the evil mastermind living in the usual fortress-palace with even more lethal dames but, at this point, don't do much but explain their prior action-packed actions... 
 
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw37BgNVkT-bpUbrrizIqdrxA4cPUe4IhPmdqnqxHKsGYtInggSsePWzAeFBz0Gf70_q4Y24_-_2bz_2XK__QSs5bVJYnxNY7Je_dAVenxJSEYKkkku5Jk9S5i4Y5_TIQzRBbDXPB3ypX4/s1600/Screen+Shot+2019-09-11+at+6.03.46+AM.jpeg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1050" data-original-width="1070" height="392" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw37BgNVkT-bpUbrrizIqdrxA4cPUe4IhPmdqnqxHKsGYtInggSsePWzAeFBz0Gf70_q4Y24_-_2bz_2XK__QSs5bVJYnxNY7Je_dAVenxJSEYKkkku5Jk9S5i4Y5_TIQzRBbDXPB3ypX4/s400/Screen+Shot+2019-09-11+at+6.03.46+AM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Virginia North as Brenda in Deadlier Than The Male SCORES: ***</td></tr>
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Earlier on, Virginia North, as Drummond's young nephew's young would-be girlfriend, with a penchant for his titular, handsome uncle, really stands out... 
 
She's now most recognizable for her last movie as this was her first following a modelling career — forever known as Vincent Price's gorgeous and mysteriously mute moll in THE ABOMINABLE DR. PHIBES, Vulnavia... 
 
And speaking of the James Bond franchise: in a few years North would appear opposite one-time 007 George Lazenby in ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE as Olympe (as well as playing another character in the DEADLIER THAN THE MALE sequel, SOME GIRLS DO): notice her names are often as exotic as she is? But she's only a Brenda here (although that is a royal nickname), and who knows: Had she been added to the three dames (including sexy brunette Kitty Swan), this might be more a cult classic instead of a hidden diamond in some pretty rough/violent yet only semi-entertaining spy exploitation.

action, body count, elke sommer, exploitation, kitty swan, leonard rossiter, mystery, richard johnson, sixties, spy, steve carlson, sylvia koscina, thriller, virginia north

ELKE SOMMER IS 'DEADLIER THAN THE MALE' W/ VIRGINIA NORTH

Virginia North in DEADLIER THAN THE MALE Year: 1967 With the same peacock strutting trumpet and stealthily baritone guitar, DEADLIER THA...

SUE LYON TAKES AN EXPLOITATION BATH IN 'THE ASTRAL FACTOR'

body count, elke sommer, exploitation, frank ashmore, horror, leslie parrish, robert foxworth, science-fiction, seventies, stefanie powers, sue lyon, supernatural

SUE LYON TAKES AN EXPLOITATION BATH IN 'THE ASTRAL FACTOR'

THE ASTRAL FACTOR Year: 1977 Rates: *** One of those bad movies that isn't so bad since it tries to be so many things at once. When you ...

GLENN FORD, RITA HAYWORTH & ELKE SOMMER 'THE MONEY TRAP'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD4K96SwmU7nW8fVRQTcCilWjNhUJgLFe1jtc8XezAAd19udd8gQuDcNZfRCEPLkIumWfpnZ-CkwS-md99r7Tk86t3y8XJfrKVgAjv99gObG2_urvW30iWM-fY5BiQtuqPKIvZQT8nCzWKfB0M4L-LgOqgoKFm1p3AgRG5nwesgxQUPn4IKNgpSJVSabma/s1968/Screen%20Shot%202024-05-22%20at%2010.56.08%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1062" data-original-width="1968" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD4K96SwmU7nW8fVRQTcCilWjNhUJgLFe1jtc8XezAAd19udd8gQuDcNZfRCEPLkIumWfpnZ-CkwS-md99r7Tk86t3y8XJfrKVgAjv99gObG2_urvW30iWM-fY5BiQtuqPKIvZQT8nCzWKfB0M4L-LgOqgoKFm1p3AgRG5nwesgxQUPn4IKNgpSJVSabma/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-05-22%20at%2010.56.08%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Title: THE MONEY TRAP YEAR: 1965 Rating: ***1/2</td></tr></tbody></table>For this Post-Noir, which didn't seem aware that Film Noirs had ended, It takes former THE BIG HEAT actor Glenn Ford to make what could be an average, by-the-numbers programmer an intriguing glimpse into a planned heist of a crooked doctor's mansion wall-safe... A man who, in Ford's opinion, murdered a thief that broke in... Part of the ingredients that makes THE MONEY TRAP a nice little page-turner with a touch of mystery, despite knowing whodunit from the get-go...

crime, elke sommer, glenn ford, jazz score, neo noir, ricardo montalban, rita hayworth, sixties, tom reese, warner archives