He has long been a gay icon, but longer than that he has been a memorable presence in numerous movies, with a colorful career of ups and downs that spans from exploitation and arthouse classics to mainstream Hollywood product to D2V/D2D trash to television series. His always noteworthy presence will be missed.
Although he is in some of our favorite films — the original Suspiria (1977 / trailer) and Mark of the Devil (1970 / trailer) and Flesh of Frankenstein (1973, see further below) and Blood for Dracula (1974, see further below) and Iron Sky (2012 / trailer), among others — only two films that we have reviewed here at a wasted life feature him: Blade (1998) and Iron Sky: The Coming Race (2019). For that, we now honor him and his amazing career with one of our typically unfocused and all-over-the-place career reviwes. Enjoy!
"The fact that I was discovered had nothing to do with art. I was simply very photogenic."
Udo Kier
Udo Kier
Flesh for Frankenstein
(1973, dir. & writ. Paul Morrissey)
The great Antonio Margheriti (19 Sep 1930 – 4 Nov 2002), the director of many a fine and/or bad film — such as Castle of Blood (1964, with Barbara Steele), Seven Deaths in the Cat's Eye (1973) and Alien from the Deep (1989, with Charles Napier), among others — is often listed as the co-director, but Udo Kier once stated that "Margheriti was on the set, he came to the studio from time to time, but he never directed the actors. Never!" Margheriti, it seems, was credited as a director primarily for tax and film-subsidy reasons, though he supposedly did shoot a few special effects sequences.
"To know death, Otto, you have to fuck life... in the gall bladder!"
Baron Frankenstein (Udo Kier)
Baron Frankenstein (Udo Kier)
Coming soon —
Flesh for Frankenstein:
Also known as Andy Warhol's Frankenstein, the movie was directed by Paul Morrissey (23 Feb 1938 – 28 Oct 2024); much like Tim Burton didn't direct Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas (1994 / trailer), Warhol lent his name and, at most, would show up on set or in the editing room once a Blue Moon. Morrissey, an important cog in the machinery of Warhol's Factory, had taken complete writing, direction and production control of "Warhol's films" after Lonesome Cowboys (1968 / full film) and up to Flesh for Frankenstein and the follow-up Blood for Dracula (1974), finally leaving Warhol's fold completely after the last.
Shot in Italy and in 3-D, Flesh for Frankenstein circulates in a heavily cut R-rated version and in the original X-rated director's cut, which overflows with gratuitous and mostly hilarious and camp sex, violence, blood, and guts. The director's cut is the one to see, 3-D or not — though the movie does use 3-D to its full, tacky effect. A camp classic that hides its intelligence behind intentional badness, Flesh for Frankenstein is a love-it-or-hate-it film that left us here at a wasted life gagging and laughing, sometimes at the same time.
"Along with the similarly kooky Blood for Dracula (1974), [...] Flesh For Frankenstein enjoyed a brief 3-D resurgence in Australia in 1986 and, forty years on, is regarded as a harmless piece of irreverent froth incapable of disturbing a domestic kitten, let alone provoking night terrors in the most lily-livered of adults. It's astonishing what a few decades of perspective can mean for a movie like this and highlights just how clueless the censors were when making their damning initial judgment. Perhaps necrophilia had something to do with it; admittedly this is one taboo too far for the more sensitive viewer and a sure-fire way to putting noses out of joint. However, Nekromantik (1987 / full film) it most certainly isn't. [Rivers of Grue]"
"The medical profession would love to claim my achievement as part of their own and call it a giant stride forward of medicine. But they can't. It is a giant stride forward for me!"
Baron Frankenstein (Udo Kier)
Baron Frankenstein (Udo Kier)
Trailer to —
Flesh for Frankenstein:
Rusty's Film World hated the film but has a decent plot description: "Dr. Frankenstein (Udo Kier) is a pompous aristocrat who wants to create the perfect couple who embody all of the nobility of the Serbian race. After creating the perfect couple, they will mate and produce a race of perfect people who only worship the good doctor. The doctor's wife is also his sister, Katrin (Monique van Vooren [25 Mar 1927 – 25 Jan 2020]). Katrin spend her days tending to her two children and lusting after the muscular peasants who work their lands. One man, Nicholas (Joe Dallessandro) captures the Baroness's fancy. She keeps catching him screwing the local girls. She calls him to the castle to discipline him. The good doctor has created the perfect woman zombie (Dalia De Lazzaro). He has the body of the male zombie. All he needs is the head of a male which has the perfect Serbian 'nasum' and an unquenchable sex drive. Doc and Otto hide outside a local brothel and wait for a Serbian stud to exit. Nicholas has a friend (Srdjan Zelenovic) who wants to become a monk. Nicholas takes him to a brothel to try and talk him out of his decision. Nicholas has his way with the three women, while his friend shows no interest in sex. You can guess which one ends up losing his head. Nicholas meanwhile is given a job in the household rather than the fields. He is still doing quite a bit of plowing though. What will happen when Nicholas recognizes his friend's head on the doctor's male zombie?"
"No one has come as close as I, understanding the secret of life, intelligently created. My mistakes have been few, but I learned from every one."
Baron Frankenstein (Udo Kier)
"Unflinching in his commitment to the deeply warped cause of his loopy character, Udo [Kier] utters his deranged dialogue with an unwell grace. Sniveling, uncouth, and megalomaniacal, yet beautiful and alluring at the same time, Udo manages to make his mad scientist seem likable, even when he's penetrating the gallbladder of his girl zombie in full view of his bug-eyed lab assistant (Arno Juerging). What am I talking about? If anything, his unseemly encounter on the dissecting table with his 'Serbian goddess' was probably one of the most romantic scenes I've ever seen. [...] With his slicked back hair (floppy bangs are for charlatans and child molesters), his eyes, which are constantly oozing a steely brand of Teutonic determination, don't merely look at you, they devour every inch of your pathetic aura, whether you're a hunky stableboy with an anachronistic accent or a jealous underling with low self-esteem, and his exquisite bone structure is as sharp as the barbs on Gitane Demone's gag-style harness (its knifelike precision ridicules your uncouth lumpiness with every suave glance), Udo Kier is a revelation as Baron Frankenstein, the dreamiest sociopath to ever don a lab coat. [House of Self-Indulgence]"
Arno Jürging, who plays Otto, Baron Frankenstein's dim-witted lab helper, had a limited filmic oeuvre at best. Aside from his two Morrissey projects, he's also found in School of Fear (1969 / trailer, with Joachim Fuchsberger), the softcore Lederhosen comedy Ob Dirndl oder Lederhose — gejodelt wird ganz wild drauflos (1974 — easy to find on X-rated streaming sites), Just a Gigolo (1978 / trailer), and Non-Stop Trouble with My Double a.k.a. Didi — Der Doppelgänger (1984 / trailer). According to Udo Keir, Juerging's mother barged into Andy Warhol's office and forced him to hire her son for his movies. Later, when she died, Arno jumped out a window to his death. A tale we could not substantiate.
As for how Udo Kier got cast, the Boston Herald quotes him as explaining: "So I got in a big film, in the second main part, with Herbert Lom called The Mark of the Devil. [...] I was sitting in an airplane with a man next to me. We talked — and American people always ask, 'What do you do?' — so he said, 'What are you doing for your life?' and I said, 'I'm an actor' and I showed him — because it was the beginning of my career — I showed him right away a picture of myself. He said, 'Interesting. Give me your number.' And then he wrote my number. A couple of weeks later I got a call, 'Hey, it's Paul [Morrissey] from New York. You remember, the guy from the plane.' He told me that he was the director for Andy Warhol and 'I'm doing a film, Frankenstein, in 3-D in Rome for the husband of Sophia Loren, Carlo Ponti. And I have a role for you.' And I said, 'That's great. What do I play?' He said Frankenstein."
Joe Dallessandro never looked better, has a NYC accent (despite being from Florida) that's thicker than his unseen but legendary tool, and is wonderfully out of place. The equally good-looking Srdjan Zelenovic, who played the sexually dead monster with the impressive 'nasum', disappeared from the world after this film. Rumor has it that he became a dentist.
Marco Liofredi, who plays the son Erik Frankenstein, appeared in a few films before disappearing, while Nicoletta Elmi, who plays the daughter Monica Frankenstein, achieved mild cult popularity and is found in a variety of movies made both before and after Flesh for Frankenstein, including Mario Bava's Bay of Blood (1971 / trailer) and Baron Blood (1972 / trailer), Who Saw Her Die? (1971), Lamberto Bava's Demons (1985), and Argento's Deep Red (1975 / trailer).
As for the Italian model cum actress Dalila Di Lazzaro, she of the modest breasts who plays the female "zombie" with the sexually attractive gall bladder but no speaking lines, she was in a Frankenstein film the prior year: Frankenstein '80 (1972 / trailer). You might not have recognized her in other fine films like Il tuo vizio è una stanza chiusa e solo io ne ho la chiave / Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key (1972 / trailer), L'ultimo treno della notte / Last Stop on the Night Train (1975 / trailer), La ragazza dal pigiama giallo / The Pyjama Girl Case (1978 / trailer) and the less fine than utterly ridiculous Phenomena (1985 / trailer).
As for the armpit-loving Baroness Frankenstein, Belgian-American Monique van Vooren, who died of cancer in Manhattan on 25 Jan 2020, took part in the anti-classic Sugar Cookies (1973 / trailer) the same year she made Fles Frankensteinh for. In 1983, as a result of an investigation of "whether she had pocketed her dead mother's Social Security payments" — she had, for roughly twenty years — she was found guilty and "ordered to get psychiatric help and perform 500 hours of community service as part of a suspended sentence" [Wikipedia]. A "singer" as well as an actress and vamp and cougar, way back in 1958 she released her debut album Mink in Hi-Fi on RCA Victor Records...
While we here at a wasted life heartily recommend Flesh for Frankenstein and rate it a full 5 out of 5 Gall Bladders, the often oddly stiff Wordlwide Celluloid Massacre rates it "Worthless", saying: "[Flesh for Frankenstein is a] humorless spoof and early splatter movie about a Baron Frankenstein that collects body parts to create the perfect obedient couple that will then mate and create an obedient army. Obedience is gotten via handling their guts while in the throes of necrophilia passion. His nymphomaniac sister (who also seems to be his wife) isn't turned off by a few scars, the Baron thinks regular sex is filthy, and the kids are following in the father's footsteps. This whole setup obviously doesn't end up well."
Typical great acting in
Flesh for Frankenstein:
(1973, dir. & writ. George Moorse)
The image above is not from the obscure and lost art film we're looking at here now, but is rather from the LP release (also from 1973) of an obscure and forgotten art band. The band has nothing to do with the film, other than sharing its name — but we couldn't locate any film poster or publcity material anywhere...
Pan, the complete album: 
The record and band above, like the film we're looking at now and the man who wrote and directed that film, George Moorse (1 May 1936 – 30 Jul 1999 — photo below), you have probably never heard of before. But regarding Mr. Moorse: "George Moorse was an American film director and screenwriter who made significant contributions to German cinema. Educated at Hofstra College and Washington Square College in New York, he began his career in Germany as a screenwriter, collaborating with directors like Peter Lilienthal (27 Nov 1927 – 28 Apr 2023). Moorse was a prominent figure in the New German Cinema movement, directing films such as Kuckucksjahre (1967 / full film) and Der Findling (1967 / full film), an adaptation of Heinrich von Kleist's novella. His work is noted for its innovative storytelling and exploration of complex human emotions. [Letterboxed]" When Mr. Moorse wasn't directing art films, he directed TV shows, in particular the German weekly cult soap Lindenstraße (1985–2020), which even we here at a wasted life used to watch.
Pan, like many of Moorse's art films, is assumed a lost film (so check your attic). To roughly rewrite the German description found at the website Filmdienst: "The myth of the ancient shepherd god is moved to the world of Celtic legends: Pan (Louis Waldon [16 Dec 1934 – 6 Dec 2013] of Orgy in the Psycho House a.k.a. The Erotic Circus [1969 / trailer below], Traumstadt / Dream City [1973 / trailer] and Punk Vacation [1990 / trailer]) appears as a tragic figure who — although the embodiment of innocent sensuality and joie de vivre — permits himself to be made a tool in warlike conflicts. A somewhat indecisive film that agitates between the naïve glorification of the 'simple life' and political thesis."
A version of
The Erotic Circus:
Germany's most important new weekly, Der Spiegel, even wrote about Pan when it was released, saying: "Completely removed from time, permanently drunk on wine, women and obligatory flute playing, the Pan of George Moorse now trudges stubbornly through a sunny film Elysium. Without much regard to the source material guarded by classical philologists, Moorse has elevated the mythical figure to the centre of a personal pandemonium. Without hesitation, his play of colors [...] mixes pop elements, anachronistic irony, archaic cruelty — women deluded by holiness exploit a slender youth, eating him raw... [Filmforen]"
Udo Kier supposedly plays "Pilgrim of Death". The cast includes Kier's Mark of the Devil castmate Herbert Fux (25 Mar 1927 – 13 Mar 2007) and, interestingly enough, the great Gordon Mitchell ([29 Jul 1923 – 20 Sept 2003] of The Giant of Metropolis [1961] and so much more, above not from the film). Of the women deluded by holiness, their character names unknown, the short film career Elga Sorbas (8 Jan 1945 – 28 Apr 2018) includes three noteworthy films: Radley Metzger's Woman of the Year a.k.a. Little Mother (1972 / trailer) and the two German trash anti-classics, Rote Sonne / Red Sun (1970 / German trailer) and Mädchen mit Gewalt / The Brutes / Cry Rape [1970 / German trailer below]. The last film also features fellow woman deluded by holiness Helga Anders* (11 Jan 1948 – 31 Mar 1986), a German exploitation film starlet of the '60s & '70s whose real-life penchant for drink and drugs led to an early grave.
* "Anders appeared as one of 28 women under the banner 'We've had abortions!' (Wir haben abgetrieben!) on the cover page of the West German magazine Stern on 6 June 1971. In that issue, 374 women publicly stated that they had had pregnancies terminated, which at that time was illegal. [Wikipedia]"
* "Anders appeared as one of 28 women under the banner 'We've had abortions!' (Wir haben abgetrieben!) on the cover page of the West German magazine Stern on 6 June 1971. In that issue, 374 women publicly stated that they had had pregnancies terminated, which at that time was illegal. [Wikipedia]"
Mädchen mit Gewalt:
The credited producer of Pan was George Moorse's wife, Barbara Moorse, who over the course of her involvement in films produced two of Germany's odder, and quintessentially '80s, exploitation films, Eckhart Schmidt's amazingly humorless The Fan (1982 / trailer below) and his equally humorless Loft (1985 / trailer).
The Fan:
Olifant
(1973, dir. Horst Dallmayr)
Yes, that is a picture of Udo Kier above, in his makeup as the titular Olifant. Yet another obscure and possibly lost project, Olifant, a television movie, was broadcast in 1973 and then, apparently, never screened again. The TV movie is the only project that the Bavarian author, producer, and screenwriter Horst Dallmayr (9 Feb 1927 – 18 Dec 2012) was ever to direct, so perhaps it was a labor of love. The movie is based on a short story by the artist/writer Ernst Penzoldt (14 Jun 1892 – 27 Jan 1955), photo below, whose work does not seem to have been translated into English.
The plot, more or less as once explained on Udo Kier's Facebook page: Olifant is about a man (Udo Kier) who turns into a monster and back. There is also a love story between him and a beautiful young lady named Charis (Vera Tschechowa). The still above shows Tchechowa and Kier in Olifant, assumedly prior to his transformation.
Of the rest of the known cast: Martin Semmelrogge, playing Hyazinth, can be found in Bang Boom Bang — Ein todsicheres Ding (1999). Erik Schumann (15 Feb 1925 – 9 Feb 2007), who plays Agathus, can be found in The Sandman (1993 / trailer), Auf der Reeperbahn nachts um halb eins / The Bedroom (1969, with Heinz Reincke), Wenn es Nacht wird auf der Reeperbahn / Uneasy Summer (1967, with Heinz Reincke), and Night of the Askari (1976 / trailer).
When the attractive Vera Tschechowa* (22 Jul 1940 – 3 Apr 2024) was an 18-year-old actress in Germany, she had a brief publicity romance — a "showmance" — over a span of months with Elvis the Pelvis [Our Daily Elvis]. (That's them above on the cover of a magazine.) Among her many films: Das Mädchen mit den Katzenaugen (1958, with Joachim Fuchsberger), Die Gruft mit dem Rätselschloss / The Curse of the Hidden Vault (1964 / trailer), In Frankfurt sind die Nächte heiß / Playgirls of Frankfurt (1966 / German trailer below), and Das Amulett des Todes / Cold Blood (1975 / trailer).
* "Vera's name appeared, on 6 June 1971, as one of 28 women under the banner 'We've had abortions!' (Wir haben abgetrieben!) on the cover page of the West German magazine Stern. In that issue, 374 women publicly stated that they had had pregnancies terminated, which at that time was illegal. [Wikipedia]"
Trailer to
In Frankfurt sind die Nächte heiß:
Joseph Balsamo
(1973, dir. André Hunebelle)
A.k.a. Cagliostro, Joseph Balsamo is television miniseries aired as seven 55-minute episodes in France and three longer episodes in Germany, all broadcast in 1973.
All episodes of this French/German production were directed by the Frenchman André Hunebelle (1 Sept 1896 – 27 Nov 1985), a former glassmaker turned film director who is fondly remembered for his Fantomas and OSS 117 films. Catherine Deneuve made her film debut, at the age of 12, in Hunebelle's Les Collégiennes / The Twilight Girls (1957 / trailer); some sources claim that future porn film star Georgina Spelvin also appears (uncredited) in that early movie as a young girl.
Some scenes with Udo Kier:
The series is based on the novel Joseph Balsamo by Alexandre Dumas pere (24 July 1802 – 5 December 1870), the first of his series of four novels from his cycle The Memoirs of a Physician which, about 1000 pages long, is usually published in two volumes in English translations: Vol 1. Joseph Balsamo, and Vol 2. Memoirs of a Physician. (Alexandre Dumas pere, as a writer, unbelievably enough, makes Stephen King come across as unproductive and word-shy.)
The German opening & closing credit sequences:
To cobble together a plotline to the movie based on the novels that freely embellish the life of the real-life Giuseppe Balsamo (2 June 1743 – 26 August 1795), a.k.a. Count Alessandro di Cagliostro, an Italian occultist and confidence trickster: The Grand Masters of the major secret brotherhoods prepare the way for the Revolution. They assign Joseph Balsamo (played by Jean Cocteau's former lover, Jean Marais [11 Dec 1913 – 8 Nov 1998] of Beauty and the Beast [1946 / trailer]) the task of bringing down absolutism in France. Balsamo, a scoundrel with the gift of mesmerism, finds entrance at the Court of Versailles and begins a game of intrigue. He manages to officially introduce the future folk-hated mistress of King Louis XV (Guy Tréjan [18 Sept 1921 – 24 Jan 2001] of The Beast [1975 / trailer]), Madame Dubarry (Louise Marleau of The Possession of Virginia [1972 / full film] and Luigi Cozzi's Contamination [1980 / trailer below]), at court. But in doing so, he attracts the wrath of the regent. Udo Kier is present throughout the series as the character Gilbert, a young man of the people and a student of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, secretly in love with the beautiful Andrée de Tacerny (Doris Kunstmann of Seven Deaths in the Cat's Eye [1973]).
Trailer to
Contamination:
Over at Letterboxd, Malvad says: "[Joseph Balsamo] is a veritable cheese-fest of which something like it could be seen in Assayas' Personal Shopper (2016 / trailer) — the kind of thing that's deemed to be too cheesy for the ironic hipsters. If I'm honest, the fact that Olimpia Carlisi [of Catch-22 (1970 / trailer) and Fellini's Casanova (1976 / trailer)] was in this made me want to watch an adaptation of Dumas' aforementioned Joseph Balsamo as he weaves his way through upper society, casting hypnotic spells on women (including his wife) and yet makes plans to torch that very same society down to the ground. Every actor in this film hams it up to a certain extent but that's part of the fun. Every arched eyebrow, every exaggerated gesture — it all adds up. It's nothing special but when taken in small doses, it can be a fun little series."
The first episode in French:
About Jean Marais, Udo Kier once said: "The nicest person [I've worked with] was a French actor Jean Marais. He was the friend of Jean Cocteau. When I started in the business, he was the biggest star ever in France. I was supposed to make a film, and I was working with him, [but] the dates were going not so good. I was not in a good mood and he, the biggest star ever from France, asked why I was not in a good mood. I told him that I was losing a film, and he went to the office of the production and said, 'Look, I have my career behind me. This boy has his career in front of him. I want you to change the plan and I will work and he will go to Austria to do his film.' In all my career years, I always find out that the best actors are the nicest people. [Interview]"
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Sonderdezernat K1: Kassensturz um Mitternacht
(1973, dir. Alfred Weidenmann)
Sonderdezernat K1 is a German television crime series that ran from 1972 to 1982. The first three seasons, the episodes were 60 minutes long; the final season, they were 70-90 minutes. The episode featuring Udo Kier, Kassensturz um Mitternacht, was the fifth episode of the first season and aired 8 February 1973; it is one of only two episodes in which no one is killed or dies. Unlike most crime shows of the time, it focused a lot on the day-to-day work of the criminal investigators as they doggedly solved the crime.
The full episode —
Kassensturz um Mitternacht:
Kassensturz um Mitternacht ["Emptying the Register at Midnight"] is not remembered as being particularly exciting — but you do get to see the robbers (played by Dieter Wilken, Claus Ringer, Udo Kier and Christiane Krüger) sing Tom Dooley. Available on DVD.
Martin Böttcher's theme music to
Sonderdezernat K1:
Plot: Four robbers take over a bank and force the two bank employees to open the safe. They escape with a lot of loot, but Rita Ohlmeier (Christiane Krüger of Le dernier combat / The Last Battle [1983 / trailer below] and Fluchtweg St. Pauli — Großalarm für die Davidswache [1971, with Heinz Reincke]), the female member of the quartet, makes a mistake that puts the officials of the K1 special department on the right track. But while the department knows who the bankrobbers are, the perfect planning of the crime suggests that they had an inside person. Who could it be?
Le dernier combat / The Last Battle:
Director Alfred Weidenmann (10 May 1919 – 9 Jun 2000) began his directorial career doing propaganda movies in Nazi Germany like Hände Hoch (1942 / film) and Junge Adlar (1944 / film) and stayed busy as a director till he died. His films tended to be competent, so he fit the medium of TV perfectly. About the closest he came to doing the type of films we like here at a wasted life was with third-rate genre stuff like Unter den Dächern von St. Pauli / Under the Roofs of St. Pauli (1970) or Schüsse im ¾ Takt a.k.a. Spy Hunt in Vienna (1965)...
Schüsse im dreiviertel Takt:
Dr. med. Mark Wedmann – Detektiv inbegriffen: Roberto & Julia
(1974, dir. Alfredo Medori)
"Dr Mark Wedmann – Detective Included" — to proffer a very rough translation of the show's name — is an obscure German TV series that lasted one 13-episode season before disappearing into the void where forgettable TV series go. Italian director Alfredo Medori helmed the entire season, while the scriptwriters were a pool of three, of which Alfred Hödt wrote this episode with a Shakespearean allusion in its title, Roberto and Julia. Udo Kier plays the titular Roberto [Augustino], his Julia [Montaglia] played by Giulia Follina. Hödt apparently never wrote anything after this series, so the name may well be a pseudonym. As for the Italian director Alfredo Medori (17 Aug 1923 – 3 Aug 1984), he was primarily a script & dialogue editor cum writer, though he did direct a few obscure directorial projects, like this TV show and Im Nest der gelben Viper – Das FBI schlägt zu a.k.a. Operation Viper (1966 — film below). He eventually seems to have disappeared, or began using a different name; reports of him also being "Fred Ringold" and/or "Fred Reingoold" may be partially true, but that pseudonym appears to have also belonged the Italian director Fernando Cerchio [7 Aug 1914 – 19 Aug 1974], so who knows who directed or wrote what.
Im Nest der gelbem Viper:
Dr. med. Mark Wedmann featured the adventures of a doctor in South Africa, Dr Mark Wedmann (Siegfried Rauch [2 Apr 1932 – 11 Mar 2018] of The Hand of Power [1968, with Joachim Fuchsberger] and The College Girl Murders [1967, with Joachim Fuchsberger]), who often had to do some investigative work to solve his "case"; often, he was assisted by another doc, Dr Yvonne Versseux ("screen legend" Margot Hielscher [29 Sep 1919 – 20 Aug 2017] of Spuk im Schloß / Ghost in the Castle [1947 / trailer] and Mörderspiel / Murder Party [1961 / full German film]).
Margot Hielscher sings
Telefon Telefon at ESC 1957:
The exciting plot to episode 6, Roberto und Julia, in which Dr Yvonne Versseux does not show up: Roberto (Udo Kier) and Julia (Giulia Follina) are in love. Their love, however, is ill-fated and rejected by their respective Sardinian families, who are longtime enemies, so they meet in secrecy. When the workers of Roberto's father, Signor Agostino (Giorgio Paoletti), suddenly fall ill with a mysterious illness, the blame is placed on the Signor. Dr. Mark Wedmann is called in, and, together with a special commission of the WHO, he investigates the cause of the sickness...
(1974, dir. Paul Morrissey)
Another one of Udo Kier's classics! "The great Antonio Margheriti (19 Sept 1930 – 4 Nov 2002), the director of many a fine and/or bad film such as Castle of Blood (1964, with Barbara Steele), Seven Deaths in the Cat's Eye (1973), and Alien from the Deep (1989, with Charles Napier), among many, is often listed as the co-director, but [...] Margheriti, it seems, was credited as a director primarily for tax and film-subsidy reasons [...]."
Opening credit sequence:
A.k.a. Andy Warhol's Dracula and/or Andy Warhol's Young Dracula: Much like Tim Burton didn't direct Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas (1994 / trailer), Andy Warhol didn't direct this film. At most, he would show up on set or in the editing room once a Blue Moon. Morrissey, an important cog in the machinery of Warhol's Factory, had taken complete writing, direction and production control of 'Warhol's films' after Lonesome Cowboys (1968 / full film), finally leaving Warhol's fold completely after this film, Blood for Dracula (1974).
Trailer to
Blood for Dracula:
Shot in 3-D, Blood for Dracula circulates in a heavily cut R-rated version and in the original X-rated director's cut, which overflows with gratuitous and mostly hilarious and camp sex, violence, blood and guts — and a truly hilarious blood-drenched final chase scene. The director's cut is the one to see, 3-D or not.
"The blood of these whores is killing me."
Count Dracula (Udo Kier)
Count Dracula (Udo Kier)
Slightly more appreciated that its predecessor Flesh for Frankenstein, Blood for Dracula, "a treatise on class struggle and [...] a softcore Eurotrash vampire gore movie [366 Weird Movies]", is also a camp classic that hides its intelligence behind intentional badness, and is a love-it-or-hate-it film that leaves you shocked and laughing, sometimes at the same time. Unlike Flesh for Frankenstein, Blood for Dracula does treat rape in a way that doesn't fit modern sensibilities...
"[...] Had a good look at him in that wheelchair, almost about to die. That's the way it is with all that rich trash. They're all sick and rotten. The only future's in socialism."
Mario Balato, the Handyman (Joe Dallessandro)
Mario Balato, the Handyman (Joe Dallessandro)
"Blood for Dracula is not a film for the squeamish. It has obvious appeal for the lover of Grand Guignol — but it equally addresses the thoughtful. [Criterion]"
"Well, if you must know, this man is obsessed with marrying a virgin."
Rubinia (Stefania Casini)
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BTW, before we go any further, the House of Self Indulgence would "like to the remind all the fellas out there, especially those of you fumbling with their sexually identity, that just because you're attracted to Udo Kier does not necessarily make you gay. Of course, if you're a man and you find yourself getting aroused by, oh, let's say, the sight of Joe Dellasandro chopping wood with his shirt off, well, congratulations, my friend, you are a homosexual man."
"If you really were clever, Anton, you would bring me a virgin from Italy and I wouldn't have to go."
Count Dracula (Udo Kier)
Count Dracula (Udo Kier)
The plot, as found at Expelled Grey Matter: "Count Dracula (Udo Kier) is dying. He needs an infusion of virgin blood, something he can't get in Romania because everyone knows who he is. He leaves his sister (Eleonora Zani) to her own fate and, at the insistence of his servant Anton (Arno Juerging), goes to Italy to find a good Catholic girl [...]. They find what they are looking for in the Di Fiore family. The Marchese (Vittorio De Sica* [7 Jul 1901 – 13 Nov 1974]) and Marchesa (Maxime McKendry [25 Jun 1922 – 30 Apr 2009]) are cash poor. All the servants have left except handyman Mario Balato (Joe 'Hubba-Hubba' Dallessandro), who seems to hang around largely to get at two of the daughters, Saphiria (Dominique Darel [1950 – 4 Jun 1978] of The Grand Duel [1972 / trailer]) and Rubinia (Stefania Casini of Andy Warhol's Bad [1977, with Susan Tyrrell], Suspiria [1977 / trailer] and L'Orafo / The Goldsmith [2022 / trailer]), who also have a thing for each other. The elder Di Fiores are excited when the Count shows up, hoping that a marriage to one of their daughters will replenish their coffers. Problem is, Mario does not want to give up the sisters to an aristocrat, as he has dreams of the coming proletariat revolution [...]. He also becomes suspicious of the Count [...]. Dracula also finds out in turn that neither Saphiria or Rubinia are virgins, as their blood causes him to get violently ill. The eldest, Esmeralda (Milena Vukotic of Il mostro dell'opera / The Monster of the Opera [1964 / trailer] and the unforgettable Gran Bollito / Black Journal [1977 / trailer]) is also unmarried, but makes no bones about the point that she once had a fiancée. It turns out the only virgin left is 14-year-old Perla (Silvia Dionisio below,**), who is too young for marriage. The Count decides that he must feed anyway [...]."
* Aside from the credited presence of this four-time Oscar-winning famous director, who was (like his film character) a compulsive gambler, Blood for Dracula features and uncredited appearance from another [in]famous director, Roman Polanski. We would say "keep your eyes open", but his appearance is a speaking part so you notice him.
** The 23-year old Dionisio, who was married to the great director Ruggero Deodato (7 May 1939 – 29 Dec 2022) — see Cannibal Holocaust (1980) — when she made Blood for Dracula, is unnervingly effective as the 14-year-old Perla. Aside from the two appropriately trashy films that she made with Deodato, Ondata di piacere / Waves of Lust (1975 / opening) and Uomini si nasce poliziotti si muore / Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man (1976 / trailer), she is also found in, among others, Nude... si muore / The Young, the Evil and the Savage (1968 / trailer), Milano violenta / Violent Milan (1976 / trailer), and La ragazza del vagone letto / Terror Express (1980 / trailer), and Murder Obsession / Murder Syndrome (1981 / trailer). She retired from the industry after Murder Syndrome.
"You should lose that... uh... virginity of yours before he gets to you."
Mario Balato, the Handyman (Joe Dellasandro)
Mario Balato, the Handyman (Joe Dellasandro)
We here at a wasted life would agree that: "Blood for Dracula remains one of the funniest spoofs of the vampire legend to date. Instead of resorting to cartoonish lampooning a la Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995 / trailer, with Leslie Nielsen) or modern in-joke fests like Love at First Bite (1979 / trailer), Morrissey's film is a period piece which looks like a serious attempt at horror. Of course after the opening sequence, of Dracula 'painting' himself in the mirror, only to reveal he has no reflection anyway, the viewer can be assured that this one will be played for laughs. Amidst the geysers of gore and graphic sex and nudity is a script bursting with comic flavor and larger than life characters. Much fun can be had with the silly dialogue, which is torn apart by the various accents of the international cast. [...] Morrissey captured every performer's actual voice, complete with dialects ranging from France, Italy, Yugoslavia, Germany and New York! Some personal favorites include lovely Dominique Darel pondering, 'What if he try to beat me or somefing?', the infamous Udo Kier scream of 'Ze blood of zese whoores is killink me!' and Arno Juerging, wide-eyed and slithering through his lines of needing a 'wergin' for his poor Count. Determined not to be glossed over, Joe Dallesandro's Brooklyn accent makes his sneering anti-hero character more enjoyable ('What would the Count want with you two whooers?'). Despite the melancholy and beautiful score by Claudio Gizzi, Morrissey's intentions were definitely comic and Gizzi's compositions are a great contrast to the ludicrous on-screen shenanigans. [DVD Drive-In]"
"Why did you take me on this hopeless... journey? Let me go home and die in peace! What good is it to have tea when I can't find the right vegetable to go with it? I guess I have to eat the rest of the Romanian lettuce... with lemon. The oil! They put so much oil here on everytting! But there must be some cheese?"
Count Dracula (Udo Kier)
Blood for Dracula is a rare Dracula movie in that it retains an aspect from Bram Stoker's Dracula novel that is seldom retained and unknown by most: Dracula can walk in sunlight, which does not kill him but does make him weaker. This was not purely an artistic decision, however: "According to a 27 Feb 1974 Variety article, Morrissey allowed Dracula to move about during the daytime [...] due to production constraints; Morrissey's film was not scheduled to allow extra time for night shooting, specifically for the scenes covering Dracula's travel to Italy. [AFI Catalog]"
For Dracula's travels, BTW, he and his servant Anton travelled in a stylishly beautiful 1934 Lancia Artena Passo Lungo Sei Luci 3a serie.
Trivia: Although it is impossible — after Udo Kier's amazingly memorable turn in Blood for Dracula — to visualize anyone else playing the role of Count Dracula in the film, the part was originally meant to go one-shot-wonder Srdjan Zelenovic, the man with the impressive 'nasum' who played the male creature in Flesh for Frankenstein. The part sort of dropped into Udo Kier's lap, as he explained to The Guardian: "On my last day [of filming Flesh for Frankenstein], I was very sad because Warhol had said that everyone is famous for 15 minutes, and now my 15 minutes had gone away. I went to the cantina, had a glass of wine, and Morrissey walked in. They were filming Flesh for Frankenstein and Blood for Dracula back to back, and he said: 'I guess we have a German Count Dracula now.' I said: 'Who?' and he said: 'You, but you have to lose 10 pounds in one week.' I said: 'No problem,' and ate only salad leaves and water for a week. On the first day of shooting, I was introduced to Vittorio De Sica — this great Italian actor who was also in Dracula. I was so weak from only eating salad leaves and water, I was in a wheelchair because I couldn't stand up."
Blood for Dracula – VHS Trailer:
Here at a wasted life, we laud Blood for Dracula as a unique art film and pure, entertaining Eurotrash exploitation, but for the sake of another view, let's go to Every 70s Movie: "Periodically throughout Blood for Dracula, it seems Morrissey believes he's making a proper drama, so he lingers on dialogue scenes and artful shots, creating tedium because the acting is so awful. Even the sex scenes are dull, despite abundant nudity. Still, the movie looks fantastic, and some flourishes linger, such as the nasty scenes of Dracula vomiting when he unknowingly drinks the blood of fallen women. Blood for Dracula eventually echoes Flesh for Frankenstein with an outrageous finale filled with comically staged dismemberments. Nonetheless, Blood for Dracula is never as outright bizarre as Flesh for Frankenstein, which is both a good and a bad thing — in (mostly) steering clear of self-parody, Blood for Dracula falls squarely in the realm of mediocrity."
Der letzte Schrei
(1975, writ. & dir. Robert van Ackeren)
A.k.a. The Last Word, despite the fact that the German title itself is slang for "the latest thing" or "the latest trend". Udo Kier takes part in a dramady cum melodramatic critique of bourgeois society with one of those directors that enjoyed a decent reputation is the German-speaking world (and maybe elsewhere) but whose films, at least those that we here at a wasted life have watched, are generally found a tad dull. (Come on, go ahead and admit it: Both A Woman In Flames [1983 / trailer] and The Venus Trap [1988 / trailer] are as boring as shit, despite how hot the women are.)
That said, we haven't seen Der letzte Schrei or its trailer — but while the presence of Udo Kier alone doesn't make the film any more attractive, when he's added to some of the other cast members, our ears prick up and we get interested. The lead female in The Last Word, Simone, is played by Delphine Seyrig (10 Apr 1932 – 15 Oct 1990), who stars in two of our favorite films, Harry Kümel's absolutely fabulous Daughters of Darkness (1971 — trailer below) and a film that separates the men from the boy — and her feature-film acting debut — Alain Resnais's Last Year at Marienbad (1961 / trailer). The lead, in turn, is played by a man who truly knows how to play an asshole: Barry Foster (21 Aug 1927 – 11 Feb 2002), of Twisted Nerve (1968 / trailer) and Alfred Hitchcock's excellent but most repulsive film, Frenzy (1972 / trailer). (Nevertheless, we would wager that all four mentioned films are more interesting than this one.)
Daughters of Darkness (1971):
Peter Hall (23 Nov 1930 – 11 Sep 2017), like Foster a Brit, was more of a director than actor; we only ever saw one film that he directed, Never Talk to Strangers (1995 / trailer), and we remember nothing about it. We would be interested in seeing his Perfect Friday (1970)....
German trailer to
Gestern gelesen: Solo für keine Stimme
As little about the film that could be located online was written in English, all that follows is roughly translated from German. And while we know that Udo Kier's character is named Raimund, we were unsuccessful in learning where he fits into the narrative...
The narrative: "Leo (Peter Hall), with an attractive but weak-hearted wife Simone (Delphine Seyrig) at his side, heads a women's undergarments manufacturing firm. But business is going downhill, so he hires the enterprising lawyer Edward (Foster) to help him with the restructuring. Edward's methods are somewhat idiosyncratic: first, he begins an affair with Leo's wife, then he turns to Leo's daughter (Ellen Umlauf) and junior boss Jella (Kirstie Pooley). He literally fucks Simone to death, as she dies of a heart attack in bed. But his plan to marry Jella and play the factory into the hands of his backers does not work out: Leo bequeaths the factory to the workers. [Filmportal]"
Perfect Friday:
Kirstie Pooley is found somewhere in the "wretchedly unfunny attempt at a comedy [...] with what is probably the coyest sex scene ever shot", White Cargo (1973 / full movie), and, more recently, was in one of those low budget films that are hard to sit through till the end, Dark Cycle (2021 / full film).
Ellen Umlauf (17 Aug 1925 – 19 Feb 2000), who was killed by sulfur fumes while in New Zealand, was in a lot of "interesting" films that one now finds hard to believe were ever seen as sexy or funny but nevertheless, like car accidents, keep your eyes glued — Graf Porno und seine Mädchen (1969 / German trailer), Hausfrauen-Report (1971, easily found on any number of porn-streaming sites), and Graf Dracula in Oberbayern / Dracula Blows His Cool (1979 / trailer) and Der Mann mit dem goldenen Pinsel / Let It All Hang Out (1969 / full film, starring a nude Edwige Fenech) — as well as some Euro-exploitation like Hexen geschändet und zu Tode gequält / Mark of the Devil Part II (1973 / trailer), Mosquito der Schänder / Bloodlust (1976 / trailer), and the possibly somewhat more artistically inclined Die Elixiere des Teufels / The Elixirs of the Devil (1976 / full film).
"One leaves the cinema with one's head overflowing with a torrent of very strange images, the rudiments of a bizarre story, the vague idea that there was a crude deeper meaning. Comedy, thriller, satire, educational play, melodrama, performance revue, street ballad, cabaret: Robert Van Ackeren's film The Last Word, to give it credit, is unclassifiable and hard to describe, a strange irritation, a unicum. Per Ackeren: 'An abysmal story in colourful pictures.' [Wolf Donner in Die Zeit (2 May 1975)]"
As for the Filmdienst: "[A] monstrous, melodrama farce that deliberately aims for below the belt. If you like, you can unearth a parable of capitalist society."
If you get down to it, the film sounds interesting... but then, most of Ackeren's films do.
(1975, dir. Hartmut Griesmayr)
Perry Mason, German style — 53 episodes, all dealing with the cases of defense attorney Dr. Peter Fuhrmann (Eric Schumann [15 Feb 1925 – 9 Feb 2007], above): "Criminal defense lawyer Dr. Peter Fuhrmann (Erik Schumann) represents his clients in even the most hopeless cases. The show was not only about theft, but also about murder and other serious crimes such as insurance fraud, embezzlement, or burglary. Fuhrmann is assisted various pretty trainees: Vera Jesse (of Slavers [1978 / full film]) in seasons 1 & 2, Eva Kinsky ([28 Jun 1945 – 2 Feb 2000] of the sleazy Eurotrash horror flick Magdalena, vom Teufel besessen / The Devil's Female [1974, trailer below]) in the first half of season 3 and Monika Gabriel (15 Oct 1943 – 7 Mar 2007) in the second half, and Viola Sauer and the final season."
Full film —
Magdalena, vom Teufel besessen:
Gestern gelesen ran from 1969 to 1976, with Udo Kier appearing in the 6th episode of season 4, broadcast 8 August 1975, Solo für Keine Stimme ("Solo for No Voice"), playing someone named Ingo Rippel. The fourth season dealt only with white-collar crime, a dull topic that might explain why the show petered out and got cancelled. The series has yet to appear on DVD.
The (in retrospect slightly ironic) plot of Solo für keine Stimme: "The chemist Dr. Deml (Wolf Richards [29 May 1930 – Feb 2008]) works for a pharmaceutical company, and his future looks rosy and promising. But then, the company's programmer Ingo Ripple (Kier) tries to blackmail the chemist because of his sexual orientation — if Dr. Deml doesn't pay, he will put compromising details in the firm's IT personnel information system... [Die Krimihomepage]"
Wolf Richards was primarily a stage and TV actor whose only feature film appearance appears to be in the early German JD movie Am Tag als der Regen kam / The Day It Rained (1959 / trailer). Director Hartmut Griesmayr's entire career was spent in the field of television.
Wolf Richards was primarily a stage and TV actor whose only feature film appearance appears to be in the early German JD movie Am Tag als der Regen kam / The Day It Rained (1959 / trailer). Director Hartmut Griesmayr's entire career was spent in the field of television.
Title track to Am Tag als der Regen kam,
sung by Dalida:
(1975, dir. Just Jaeckin)
Released in France in August 1975, The Story of O is one of those films that gives the term "Eurotrash" meaning. Before the French film, of course, there was the French book: "Story of O is a small literary gem. It is also a dangerous book. It is a romance of violence written by a gentle French woman who for over forty years hid behind the name 'Pauline Reage'. It is a book which should come with a health warning.... Story of O might seduce your heart.* It might claim your soul. It could even change your life. Originally published in France in 1954 by Jean-Jacques Pauvert, Histoire d'O relates the tale of a young Parisian fashion photographer, called O, and her willful debasement at the hands of her lover Rene and the members of a clandestine society dedicated to the pleasures of sadomasochism. The publication of Histoire d'O caused immediate controversy. The daring nature of the novel became the talk of the French salons and cafes and there was much speculation as to the true identity of its author. In the following year Story of O won the Prix des Deux Magots, a literary prize generally awarded to new and unconventional books, with a number of famous writers amongst its earlier recipients. The literary quality of Story of O was confirmed and the novel's notoriety was firmly established. Despite subsequent public outrage and a police investigation involving the interrogation of the publisher Jean-Jacques Pauvert, the book continued to be published, and the identity of Pauline Reage, who, it is said, quelled further police intervention after meeting the Minister of Justice over lunch, remained a well kept secret. For many years Story of O was assumed written by a man but in fact its author was a French woman of letters who kept her identity secret until just before her death on 2 May, 1998 — at the age of 91 — when she [Dominique Aury (23 Sept 1907 – 27 Apr 1998)] revealed that she had written it as a 'love letter' to her lover of 20 years. [Story of O]"
* Then again, you might find the book boring, as we did. Bataille's unfilmable Story of the Eye is far more interesting. (The trangressive film Georges Bataille's Story of the Eye [2003 / trailer] is "inspired" by the titular book, but does not follow its narrative.)
Scene from
The Story of O:
"A critical view of the novel is that it is about, and derives its erotic power from, the ultimate objectification of a woman. The heroine has the shortest possible name. Though this is in fact a shortening of 'Odile', it could also stand for 'object' or 'orifice', an O being a symbolic representation of any 'hole'. The novel was strongly criticized by many feminists for glorifying abuse of women. [Wikipedia]"
Be what it may, most notorious books eventually get made into films. Henri-Georges Clouzot (20 Nov 1907 – 12 Jan 1977), the director of Le Corbeau [1943] and so much more, is perhaps the most famous of the filmmakers that tried, unsuccessfully, for years to adapt the novel; in 1961, scandal-noodle Kenneth Anger (3 Feb 1927 – 11 May 2023) allegedly adapted it into a 20-minute short. And finally, in 1975, French director Just Jaeckin (8 Aug 1940 – 6 Sep 2022), made this, the first feature-film adaptation of the novel, as his follow-up film to his first hit film, the international success that is Emmanuelle (1974 / trailer below).*
* And so the circle closes: "Emmanuelle Arsan" (a.k.a. Marayat Rollet-Andriane [19 Jan 1932 – 12 Jun 2005]), the author of the original novel Emmanuelle (1959/1967) that Jaeckin was to make his directorial debut with, did herself claim that the Story of O inspired her to write her erotic novel Emmanuelle (1959/1967).
Emmanuelle (1974):
And how did Udo Kier get involved in the project? Well, to use his own words: "I went to Paris for the premiere [of Frankenstein]. I was in a nightclub after the premiere [...] and that is when I met [Roman] Polanski. It was there where someone came and said they would be doing The Story of O and they would like to offer me the lead. I said 'No, I don't do porno.' When the people left, everyone said 'Udo, you are crazy! You have to do this film.' So I did The Story of O. [IconVision]"
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WIP has the "plot" to the movie: "French fashion photographer O (Corinne Clery) is spirited away by her lover René (Udo Kier) to a retreat where she is imprisoned by a jailer, Pierre (Jean Gaven [16 Jan 1922 – 5 May 2014] of Who's Killing the Great Chefs of Europe [1978 / trailer]), whose job is to beat her when she is disobedient. O is outfitted in garb that makes her sexually available to a variety of anonymous partners, the entire episode designed to prove René's love for and possession of O. Pierre's task is to break her spirit and make her submissive, but he does not entirely succeed. Returned to Paris, O resumes her life with René, their relationship strengthened by the experience. René jeopardizes their future, however, by attempting to 'give' O to his stepbrother, Sir Stephen (Anthony Steel [21 May 1920 – 21 Mar 2001]* of The Monster Club [1981]), who begins to fall in love with his new prize."
* For a time, Anthony Steel, was one of the best-paid actors of the Rank Organization, which had dedicatedly built him into a star. In 1956, at the height of his career, he broke his contract with Rank and moved with his new wife, Anita Ekbert, to Hollywood, where he soon became known as Mr. Ekbert. Alcohol, scandal — he was not known as a fun drunk — and lacklustre films followed, and in 1961 he divorced Anita Ekbert and went to Europe, where his career continued to be lacklustre. Withdrawing from public life, he was later found to be living in near poverty in a council flat in Norholt, west London. He spent the final years of his life at Denville Hall, an actors' home in west London.
the title track to West of Zanzibar (1954 / full film):
"Jaekin's episodic, softcore adaptation of Pauline Reage's acclaimed erotic novel stays just the right side of kitsch, hinting at the darker pleasures experienced by the enigmatic O at the hands of her experimental lover Rene. Long a cause célèbre amongst the anti-censorship lobby, (it was not given certification by the BBFC until 25 years after its release) The Story of O can now be judged on its own merits. Like [Jaekin's] Lady Chatterley's Lover (1981 / trailer) it's not an undeniable classic, but it does have a lot to recommend it — and not just if you're into whips. [DVD Beaver]"
"The title character is played by the amazingly sexy and attractive Corrine Clery,* whose exceptional body is the only single reason outside of unintentionally laughs to bother watching this film. She decides to allow herself to submit to a 'crazy, secret world' to make her boyfriend (Udo Kier) happy, because he definitely has issues and she is dumb enough to date him. The result is non-stop sex (and sex abuse) with strangers and 'conditioning' (yawn) by the people running this chateau/brothel. [...] The idea that Clery would even date Kier is baseless and never works, then the series of events that follow (titillating, stupid and/or otherwise) are mishandled by the director. Part of the problem is a self-indulgent male director with a single, predictable approach trying to tell a female point-of-view story. The voice-over is female, but it hardly works. In the original French, which does not make it more realistic, it is flat and dull. In the English dub, it is a disaster, nearly camp and inadvertently points out all the many flaws and pitfalls Jaeckin keeps hitting. The result in any language is shocking amateur and dated. If Clery was not cast, this would be a total bomb. [FulVue Drive-in]"
* Corrine Clery went on to play a Bond Girl in the most patently ridiculous of all Bond movies, the wonderfully terrible Moonraker (1979 / trailer). Indeed, she's taken part in many a fine slab of filmic flotsam of the kind we love here at a wasted life, the "best" (worst?) being Fulci's The Devil's Honey / Il miele del diavolo (1986 / trailer), the cult fave Yor: The Hunter from the Future / Il mondo di Yor (1983 / trailer), The Humanoid / L'umanoide (1979 / trailer) and Hitch-Hike / Autostop rosso sangue (1977 / trailer, with David Hess). She is still acting today.
More O:
"In design and execution, Story of O is essentially the erotic mirror to Dario Argento's Suspiria (1977 / trailer), an orgy of visual style in which the story takes a back seat to the relentless succession of powerful images and stunning music (composer Pierre Bachelet [25 May 1944 – 15 Feb 2005] never topped himself after this one). Like Argento's film (which also features horror icon Kier, coincidentally), the curtain raising sequence is so magnificent in every respect that there's no way the rest of the film can compare — but it's still a very enjoyable ride. Clery [...] looks ravishing in every shot and makes for a compelling heroine, though the men do little besides lounging around in their chic designer suits. The film itself takes some liberties with the source novel, including an additional scene at the end which makes for a far more satisfying resolution [...]. [Mondo Digital]"
Pierre Bachelet's title track to
The Story of O:
"The Story of O is intended to be an erotic, female-oriented drama, yet it's difficult to view it as anything other than an exploitive male fantasy. [Gone with the Twins]"
The Story of O was produced by some guy named Eric Rochat (18 Oct 1936 – 5 Oct 2003), who went on to write, direct and/or produce Story of O - Chapter 2 (1984 / scene), a ten-part Brazilian TV series titled A História de O (1992 / diverse episodes), and a vanished TV movie Living O (2003). The rare moments Rochat didn't have O on his mind, he also produced François Reichenbach's mondo documentary Sex O'Clock USA (1976 / full soundtrack) and Alejandro Jodorowsky's worst movie, Tusk (1980 / trailer).
Coming eventually:
R.I.P. Udo Kier, Part III: 1976-78
A publci service announcement from a wasted life:
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