Let's Go To the Movies #6 Friday 2 June 1972

 

Over at the Colonial on Woodward Ave (in the exact spot where Little Caesars Arena now stands) is the Filipino produced THE HOT BOX (Their guns are hot and their bodies are hard!) with Margaret Markov leading a group of escaped female prisoners/revolutionaries. 

Also on the bill is Lee Frost's CHAIN GANG WOMEN (which is mostly chain gang men) , Dario Argento's THE CAT-O'- NINE TAILS and the complete unknown to me CUE MASTER (pool tableploitation ??) 

An interesting combination of a blaxploitation/heist film with some film noir elements, COOL BREEZE is playing several downtown theatres and drive-ins. Another one that really needs a nice Blu-ray release.

FRITZ THE CAT, complete with a Judith Crist quote ("Fritz The Cat is a Ball For the Open Mind!") is still playing a few theatres after its April premier. 

Held over for its second week is THE POSSESSION OF JOEL DELANEY. Starring Shirley MacLaine, this interesting & creepy  NYC based voodoo possession has finally gotten some Blu-ray love the past few years. 

Another MIA on Blu-ray, THE LONERS has Dean Stockwell leading a trio on a vicious crime spree and is trying to hitch on the the "new Hollywood" bandwagon from the previous decade with its shout outs to BONNIE AND CLYDE and EASY RIDER. 

"Fun & Thrills At the Drive-Ins Tonite!" with the double feature of the classic THEY CALL ME TRINITY along with the Joe Namath/Ann Margaret biker flick C.C. AND COMPANY which got some interest with its appearance in ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD courtesy of Margot Robbie's theatre visit. 

A pretty great triple feature with a couple of Eddie Romero directed Filipino horror classics including TWILIGHT PEOPLE (a homage to The Island of Doctor Moreau) and BRIDES OF BLOOD (sadly most likely without the "oath of green blood"). THE BLOOD FIEND is a retitling of 1967's THEATRE OF BLOOD starring Christopher Lee.

The world premiere of TOP OF THE HEAP is playing downtown at the Fox. Written, produced,  directed by and starring Christopher St. John, it recently received a new 4K restoration so hopefully a new physical release is coming. St. John had appeared in SHAFT and used his salary from that to finance this amazing film. 

A couple of major studio releases playing around are Peter Bogdanovich's wonderful screwball comedy WHAT'S UP DOC? and a jut-jawed Chuck Heston saving the day (plus a gaggle of TV stars and former Hollywood sort-of A-listers) in SKYJACKED. 

PAGES OF DEATH 1962

First released in 1962, this 27 minute short film purports to show the evils of pornography and its horrific effects on society with an emphasis on turning high school-age males into psychotic murderers. For decades it was considered a lost film, but in 2015 a 16mm print was discovered by the Oregon Historical Society who have kindly posted it on YouTube for our enjoyment in all its fading-to-red glory. 

Hysterically over-wrought and pushing its pro-censorship message with the subtilty of a jackhammer, its one of those educational/propaganda films in which the production history is almost as interesting as the film itself. It was produced by the radio program Hour of St. Francis and distributed by the Cincinnati, OH. based Citizens for Decent Literature. Also affiliated with the production was religious zealot and anti-pornography zealot Charles Keating, who spent most of the 50s and 60s railing against any type of adult entertainment. He then entered into banking where in the 80s he was president of the infamous Lincoln Savings and Loan whose failure cost over 20,000 customers (many of them elderly) their life savings and led to the "Keating Five" scandal. It would seem pornography is the root of all evil in society while evil bankers bilking people out of their savings is for the greater good.

Busy character actors Paul Picerni (THE UNTOUCHABLES TV Show) and Mark Allen portray a couple of hard-nosed police detectives investigating the murder and implied rape of a young girl in which the trail leads them to a store that sells candy, school supplies, and "adult magazines & sex paperbacks". The victim is portrayed as being the child of hard working middle class parents while the eventual suspect is a spoiled high schooler of obnoxious egotistical parents.

Picerni gets to recite a couple of "in your face" Jack Webb-type monologues, especially when discovering the suspects porn stash ("Evidently he's been ordering from the back of magazines...This is hardcore stuff"). In fact the whole thing has the slightly more sleazy feel of a DRAGNET episode. 

Also in the cast is John Larch who appeared in about every TV show during the 60s and 70s and the film's narrator is sportscaster Tom Harmon whose the father of actor Mark Harmon. Enjoy!