Overlooked Hotels
Luigi Bazzoni is a name you don’t hear too often, and of course, in this week’s edition of The Forgotten, I’m going to imply that this is a shame. But I wouldn’t go so far as to say it’s surprising. Some filmmakers are just too culty and weird to even attract cult followings. But I want to thank David Wingrove for his benshi translation of LE ORME, and Shameless Video for their restored DVD release of it with subtitles so it can now spread puzzlement beyond the ranks of the Italian-speaking.
This is a Forgotten Fever Dream Double Feature, in which Bazzoni’s early weirdie LA DONNA DEL LAGO is appreciated first, followed by its younger sister, LE ORME: a couple of surreal hotel movies that have to be seen to be disbelieved, or unseen to be believed, or something.
You can buy LE ORME here:
February 3, 2012 at 10:30 am
Thanks for a fantabulous piece on LE ORME…a film that’s odd but not conventionally odd in the way that marketable cult movies seem to be. Never seen LA DONNA DEL LAGO, but it looks truly lustrous.
THE DRIVER’S SEAT, meanwhile, is now available on DVD in Italy. Beautifully presented in its correct widescreen ratio – but, alas, in Italian with no subtitles. Perhaps there’s a way of playing the Italian DVD image and the English VHS soundtrack simultaneously? If so, I don’t know what it is!
February 3, 2012 at 2:14 pm
There is indeed a way to synch the audio from one to the video of the other, and amateur film enthusiasts have become very good at it. Such a fandub is urgently required!
Bazzoni’s The Fifth Cord is also available — a rather conventional, if muted giallo, it benefits from magnificent design and Storaro’s photography, so it’s worth seeing. And I’m going to check out one of his westerns soon…
February 3, 2012 at 2:18 pm
MAN, PRIDE AND VENGEANCE is a scream. A spaghetti Western version of CARMEN with Franco Nero, Tina Aumont and Klaus Kinski. How could it possibly fail?