tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9149411832127844385.post1202314627030112916..comments2024-03-22T14:34:39.101-04:00Comments on MONDO 70: A Wild World of Cinema: Wendigo Meets COUNT DRACULA (1970)Samuel Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00934870299522899944noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9149411832127844385.post-68012483293326004542010-09-13T13:11:31.582-04:002010-09-13T13:11:31.582-04:00Really good write up, Sam. I must admit I've s...Really good write up, Sam. I must admit I've seen a few of Franco's movies but how many must you sift through before you find a good one? I honestly can't fathom what it is people see in his work. I guess I haven't found the right one yet. I been really curious about this one for a few years till Chris Lee pretty much disowned it.<br /><br />I would say it was a safe bet Kinski didn't want to really do this movie but took it because of the money only. I mean we're talking about the same man who turned down RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK for VENOM because the latter film paid better and the script for RAIDERS was "shit" to use his words.<br /><br />I absolutely love seeing Kinski on screen and after reading his autobiography, you can tell when he dislikes the movie he is appearing in.venoms5https://www.blogger.com/profile/13655919099947763891noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9149411832127844385.post-61910790581895344272010-09-08T22:41:29.558-04:002010-09-08T22:41:29.558-04:00Maybe Franco was intimidated by Kinski. I can'...Maybe Franco was intimidated by Kinski. I can't think that he desired a performance in which the actor never says a line when the camera's on him. Even at the end, when Renfield is supposed to croak out the word "Varna," Franco cuts to a reverse shot before we hear the line. Do we have Kinski's opinion of Franco on record anywhere? I'd be interested in his version of the making of this film, though it wouldn't necessarily be more truthful than Franco's or Towers'sSamuel Wilsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00934870299522899944noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9149411832127844385.post-46091819152626446952010-09-07T22:24:20.572-04:002010-09-07T22:24:20.572-04:00Vicar, the strange thing is that none of Kinski...Vicar, the strange thing is that none of Kinski's performances for Franco are all that good. I wasn't very impressed by him in Franco's <em>Jack the Ripper</em> either. It's odd because apparently they got on reasonably well. <br /><br />Actually maybe that was the problem - Kinski seemed to thrive on conflict and perhaps he needed to be motivated by a desire to murder the director in order to give a good performance!dfordoomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02306293859869179118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9149411832127844385.post-63166447897060453272010-09-07T13:08:31.045-04:002010-09-07T13:08:31.045-04:00It is rather incredible that you have Kinski as Re...It is rather incredible that you have Kinski as Renfield here, which almost anyone familiar with the man's body of work would chalk up as the most perfect casting of the role since Dwight Frye and anticipate a performance to give Frye a run for his money as all-time champeen, and then watch Kinski just...sit...there. :( Perhaps the fact that the mania was so expected in this role led Kinski to rebel against it, just so that he would NOT be doing what was expected? Incidentally, I had the same feeling of a wasted performance watching Kinski play The Marquis de Sade in Franco's JUSTINE--I just went into it expecting much more than he delivered. And it's not a question of ability, clearly, so there must have been something else going on.<br /><br />I always love watching Franco's interviews on the DVDs, even if I didn't enjoy the movie so much, b/c he's just such a passionate, largely engaging character that he often convinces me the movie I watched was actually better than my first-hand experience of it would suggest! :) But it's a maxim by now that Franco misses more often than he hits--however, when he DOES hit...wow.<br /><br />Incidentally, if you and Wendigo are looking for other interesting versions of the story, here's one (by the BBC, I think) that I saw a few years back that I thought had some intriguing ideas and a few good things going for it, though faithfulness to the source was far down that list:<br />http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0847161/<br /><br />I'd love to hear your thoughts.The Vicar of VHShttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06832137990485130735noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9149411832127844385.post-16219646679020958652010-09-06T23:59:40.431-04:002010-09-06T23:59:40.431-04:00Franco's two weakest horror movies are also hi...Franco's two weakest horror movies are also his most conventional - <em>Count Dracula</em> and <em>Jack the Ripper</em>. And you're right - Franco really shines when he's able to pursue his own obsessions and his own visions without being tied down by a conventional horror movie structure.<br /><br />He's one of my very favourite directors but <em>Count Dracula</em> is definitely a misfire. On the other hand I liked Christopher Lee's performance here a lot more than in any of the Hammer Draculas (which I consider to be Hammer's weakest films).dfordoomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02306293859869179118noreply@blogger.com