MADE IN SWEDEN, not to be confused with “Maid In Sweden,” is a 1969 Swedish drama directed by Johan Bergenstråhle, who also wrote the script based on Sven Fagerberg 's novel The White-Painted Heart (Det Vitmålade Hjärtat). The film is about journalists Kristina and Jörgen who travel to Thailand to investigate rumors that a Swedish company is engaged in illegal arms sales there. This story is interspersed with scenes that serve as a political or moral lesson. It also directs criticism at how the West economically exploits developing countries. For example, a Swedish businessman whom the main characters meet in Thailand notes that no company directors are Thais.
Writer-director Johan Bergenstråhle began his career as a film critic in 1958, and became fascinated by the French New Wave films of Truffaut and Chabrol. He became popular as a stage director and had a long stretch at Stockholm City Theatre. Beginning in 1965, he began directing films for Swedish television. MADE IN SWEDEN was his first feature film. Producer Bengt Forslund had been producing since 1966, and had three features under his belt at the time of MADE IN SWEDEN. The role of "Kristina” was played by Lena Granhagen, a Swedish actress and singer who began her film career as a decorative blonde in supporting roles. "Jorgen” was played by Per Myrberg, also an actor/singer. Myrberg had worked steadily in Swedish televison, films, and theater since 1957. And the third-billed role of wealthy industrialist "Magnus Rud” was played by the redoubtable Max von Sydow.
The 94-minute color film, produced by Svensk Filmindustri, had a lengthy shoot. It was filmed from 2 January 1968 to 3 July 1968 in Stockholm and Faro, Sweden; Bangkok, Thailand; and in India and Pakistan. The film’s score was by Bengt Ernryd, and the film also included several tracked songs, among them The Beatles’ "In My Life” sung by Judy Collins, and ”Billy the Kid” sung by Burl Ives. MADE IN SWEDEN opened in Sweden on 17 March 1969. The film was shown in competition at the 1969 Berlin International Film Festival, which was held from June 25 to July 6, 1969. There it won a Silver Bear award and was reviewed by Variety’s ”Hawk” in a review published on 9 July 1969. In Sweden, the film was cleared by the censors for viewing by children ages 11 and up. Over the next year it played in much of Europe, but it never had a U.S. theatrical release.
Following MADE IN SWEDEN, Johan Bergenstråhle would continue directing Swedish television and features through most of the 1970s, but only sporadically after that. In all, he directed 14 films between 1965 and 1994. He died in 1995 at the age of 60. Bengt Forslund would go on to produce and co-write two of director Jan Troell’s most famous films--THE EMIGRANTS and THE NEW LAND. Forslund would receive two Oscar nominations for THE EMIGRANTS. Lena Franhagen did not act again in films for 8 years, instead concentrating on theater and recordings. Per Myrberg continued film acting, and supplied voiceovers for the Swedish versions of Disney’s THE ARISTOCATS (1970) and THE LITTLE MERMAID (1989), in which he voiced "Sebastian” the crab. His most recent appearance was in THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO.
Although an English-language version was created for MADE IN SWEDEN, no English-language or English-subtitled video has been released in the U.S.
WITCHCRAFT-64- This neat little underated supernatural opus with Lon Chaney JR released by 20th fox has been ignored by free TV and cable TV for decades, can be found though on DVD, calling TCM UNDERGROUND or THIS?
INNOCENT BYSTANDERS is a 1972 espionage drama released by Paramount. The plot involves shifting loyalties among American, British, and Soviet spies. Conflicting Variety news items in December 1971 noted that Sagittarius Productions president Harry S. White and producer George Brown were considering both Ron Cook and Peter Collinson as director for INNOCENT BYSTANDERS. Collinson ended up as the directorial choice. Collinson had directed British television until making his feature film debut with 1967’s THE PENTHOUSE. He was experienced in the action genre, having already helmed THE ITALIAN JOB (1969) and YOU CAN’T WIN ‘EM ALL (1970).
Screenwriter James Mitchell had actually written the script’s source novel, under the pen name James Munro. In fact, the film is an adaptation of the final novel in a quartet that James Mitchell wrote under that pseudonym, all featuring Department K's John Craig character (played by Stanley Baker in the film). The novels are: "The Man Who Sold Death" (1964), "Die Rich, Die Happy" (1965), "The Money That Money Can't Buy" (1967), and “The Innocent Bystanders” (1969).
In addition to Stanley Baker, the film starred Geraldine Chaplin, Dana Andrews, and Sue Lloyd. Just before production began, INNOCENT BYSTANDERS went through a major cast change. Orson Welles was originally cast in the film, but he was forced to withdraw due to illness and was replaced by Donald Pleasence. (In the film, Pleasence plays a character called “Loomis,” the same name as the character he would later play in the HALLOWEEN films.) On 18 February 1972, the film went before the cameras. Shooting continued through late April 1972 in London, with interiors at Pinewood Studios, and at Costa Del Sol, Spain. The film was scored by John Keating, his final score, and a film of his so obscure that even Soundtrack Collector does not list it among his credits. Keating also wrote a song for the film, "What Makes the Man," with lyrics and vocal by Hurricane Smith.
INNOCENT BYSTANDERS opened first in London in October 1972. It had its American premiere in Los Angeles on 10 January 1973. Most of the critical jurors judged INNOCENT BYSTANDERS guilty of several cinematic misdemeanors. Not mincing any words, New York’s Judith Crist labeled the film “crap,” noting that the abundance of “bone-crushing and head-cracking and body hurtling and general mayhem” made the film “as unappetizing as it is incredible.” Cue’s William Wolf rejected the movie as a compendium of “secret agent clichés.” Time’s Jay Cocks blamed director Collinson for attempting to “slick up” the “spy hokum stuff,” adding that “its dizzying intrigue of counterplots and triplecrosses” came about through “a lot of addled editing.” And in the San Francisco Chronicle, Paine Knickerbocker found the film to be “incredible, predictable and unimaginative.”
A few critics, however, found the film to be “a fast-paced, exciting secret agent melodrama” (Variety’s “Whit”), particularly some reviewers who compared it to the James Bond films. But even on that point, there was disagreement. In his Los Angeles Times review, critic Charles Champlin wrote that Stanley Baker looks “for all the world like a mustachioed Sean Connery," noted that Geraldine Chaplin’s character is "a Bond variation" and called John Keating's musical score "pure Bond." But taking the opposite view, The Los Angeles Herald Examiner called INNOCENT BYSTANDERS "001 ½ ...a James Bond ripoff down to the zingy music." In all, the overwhelming majority of critics agreed with Newsday’s Joseph Gelmis that “INNOCENT BYSTANDERS looks like something left over from the low point of spy movies in the 1960s. It is a slick, totally undistinguished foreign intrigue flick.”
Here’s a television spot for the film:
INNOCENT BYSTANDERS was broadcast on CBS in 1977, but has not been officially released on any video format in the U.S. There is the hope that Paramount may someday license the film out to Olive Films for release. The film is available for purchase as a download from Amazon:
May i add Innocent bystanders was in syndication in the early 80's in America and shown a few times, however it has been an obscure item for a long while now , does not show up on cable .
THAT LADY FROM PEKING was a 1970 espionage thriller which followed an American newspaper reporter who was in Hong Kong to assist a defecting Russian diplomat. In return for arranging his escape, the diplomat must turn over to the American a diary revealing the true events taking place in China. Carl Betz played the newspaperman. Betz, of course, was best known for his role as “Alex Stone,” the husband of Donna Reed in the long running “The Donna Reed Show” (1958-1966). Betz had begun his screen acting career in 1952 in small film roles, but then acted exclusively on television from 1953 to 1966. Following “The Donna Reed Show,” he appeared in one feature, Elvis Presley’s SPINOUT (1966) before quickly returning to television as the lead in the series “Judd for the Defense.” Following that series’ 2-year run, there was continuous TV guest star work, and one feature film—THAT LADY FROM PEKING.
Co-starring with Betz were Nancy Kwan and Bobby Rydell. Kwan had made her screen acting debut in the William Holden film THE WORLD OF SUSIE WONG (1960), receiving a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in the process. She then starred in the following year’s FLOWER DRUM SONG. During the 1960s, she co-starred regularly in major films with stars like Glenn Ford (FATE IS THE HUNTER, 1964), Tony Curtis, (ARRIVEDERCI, BABY!, 1965), Robert Stack (THE CORRUPT ONES, 1967) and Dean Martin (THE WRECKING CREW, 1968). But by 1970, major film roles were hard to come by, and Kwan began appearing in low budget and foreign films such as THAT LADY FROM PEKING.
Bobby Rydell played Carl Betz’ younger brother in the film. Rydell was a teenage singing sensation who came out of the Philadelphia music scene which also spawned Frankie Avalon and Fabian. He famously made his feature film debut in 1963’s BYE BYE BIRDIE, playing Ann-Margret’s boyfriend. Rydell made regular appearances on television during the 1960s, while maintaining his singing career, but his only other on-screen appearance in a feature film was in THAT LADY FROM PEKING. Rydell sang two songs in the film: "Target for Tonight," music by Ben Oakland and lyrics by Jack Elliott, and "Talk to Me Softly," composed by Bob Young with words by Kit Denton.
THAT LADY FROM PEKING was written, produced, and directed by Eddie Davis. Davis had been an assistant director on low-budget films since the early 1940s. He began directing in television in 1952. He directed mainly syndicated series such as “The Cisco Kid,” “Highway Patrol,” “Sea Hunt,” and “Ripcord.” He wrote and directed his first feature, the espionage drama PANIC IN THE CITY, in 1968. Around that time, Reg Goldsworthy (1920-1981), a former Australian radio actor and then TV soap star, formed Goldsworthy Productions, to work in collaboration with American company Commonwealth United Corporation, to produce a handful of thrillers. In the late 1960s, Goldsworthy brought Eddie Davis to Australia to direct IT TAKES ALL KINDS (1969), starring Robert Lansing and Vera Miles; COLOR ME DEAD (1969), a remake of 1950’s D.O.A., starring Tom Tryon; and THAT LADY FROM PEKING.
Under the title “The Girl From Peking,” the film was shot entirely in Australia, in July 1969. Post-production most likely wrapped up sometime in the fall of 1969, but the film, retitled THAT LADY FROM PEKING, then became one of a number of movies caught in limbo when Commonwealth United (CU) went bankrupt. Several of the major CU films, such as JULIUS CAESAR (1970) and BATTLE OF NERETVA (1971), were picked up for release by American International. But THAT LADY FROM PEKING was not one of them. The 93-minute film sat on the shelf until 1975, when National Telefilm Associates (NTA), CU’s parent company, released the film to U.S. television and theatrically in some foreign markets (notably Australia). Contemporary reviews of the film are nonexistent. In his book The Espionage Filmography, author Paul Mavis calls the film a “sickly espionage tale, with has-been stars and a warmed over script,” and terms it an “ugly looking film, as well.”
THAT LADY FROM PEKING never had a U.S. theatrical release (thus there is no U.S. advertising art for the film). The film may be available on a few shady download sites, but it has never had a U.S. video release. There is an outside chance that Olive Films may release the picture on DVD, since it is currently releasing films from the NTA library, now controlled by Paramount.
Following THAT LADY FROM PEKING, Carl Betz would return to television. He appeared in two little-seen films in 1975. These were THE BOY WHO TALKED TO BADGERS and THE MEAL (which saw a release of the Stu Phillips score by Kritzerland in 2010). Betz died of lung cancer in 1978 at age 56. Nancy Kwan moved to Hong Kong and continued working in low budget films, mainly shot in Indonesia and the Philippines. She came back to the U.S. in 1979, then mostly appeared in television until about 1990. She appeared in the occasional feature during the 1990s, most notably as a restaurateur in DRAGON: THE BRUCE LEE STORY (1993). Her most recent film role was in 2006’s little-seen RAY OF SUNSHINE. Bobby Rydell resumed his singing career, and even today, occasionally appears on TV “oldies” shows. But his only subsequent appearance on screen was in the 1999 TV movie “Mr. Rock 'n' Roll: The Alan Freed Story.” For writer-director Eddie Davis, THAT LADY FROM PEKING was his final professional job. He retired from film work at the age of 63.
In the summer of 1973, two sports-related films opened within a month of each other. The better known of the two, BANG THE DRUM SLOWLY, starred Robert DeNiro and Michael Moriarity, and was a fictional baseball story. The lesser known film, obscure really, was a basketball tale based upon a true story. That film was MAURIE.
The basketball player Maurice “Big Mo” Stokes attended Saint Francis Academy in Pennsylvania. From 1955 to 1958, he played with the Cincinnati Royals (formerly the Rochester Royals), and was named the 1956 NBA Rookie of the Year. He set a league record for the most rebounds in a season and played on the NBA All-Star Game Second Team three years in a row. Stokes was poised to become one of the top ten players of all time. During a game on 12 March 1958, Stokes was injured and temporarily knocked unconscious, but continued playing for the rest of the game. Three days later, on an airplane after a game in Minneapolis, he became violently ill, fell into a coma and awakened several weeks later completely paralyzed. He was diagnosed with post-traumatic encephalopathy. As depicted in the film, Stokes, who was admired for his sense of humor, spent the next twelve years struggling to recover some of his motor skills but died in 1970 at the age of 36 from a heart attack. He was buried, at his request, at Saint Francis Academy. In 2004, Stokes was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame.
MAURIE’s co-producer, Frank Ross, had been in film production since 1940. He had been the producer on such 1950’s blockbusters as THE ROBE and DEMETRIUS AND THE GLADIATORS. MAURIE would be Ross’ final production. The screenwriter for MAURIE was Douglas Morrow, who also co-produced. Morrow was no stranger to sports-themed stories. He had won an Oscar for “Best Writing, Motion Picture Story,” for his first produced screenplay, for 1949’s THE STRATTON STORY, a baseball film starring James Stewart. Morrow spent a year researching and securing clearances before writing the script for MAURIE. Directing the film was veteran Daniel Mann.
Bernie Casey, who portrayed "Maurice Stokes" in the film, was a former football player with the Los Angeles Rams and had acted in films since his appearance in the 1969 GUNS OF THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN. Although they previously had performed in episodic television, Bo Svenson and Stephanie Edwards, who portrayed “Jack and Carole Twyman,” made their motion picture debuts in MAURIE. The real John Kennedy “Jack” Twyman was a teammate of Stokes, playing for the Royals from 1955-1966 and was a team captain. Twyman, who served as technical advisor for MAURIE, became Stokes’ legal guardian and established and raised funds for the Maurice Stokes Foundation to pay for Stokes’s medical expenses. Sportscaster Chris Schenkel made his motion picture debut in the film, appearing as himself.
Under the working title of “Big Mo,” the film began shooting on 19 February 1973. Basketball sequences began filming at the Forum in Inglewood, CA on 19 March 1973. Production continued through mid-June 1973. The film was scored by Joe Raposo. He also wrote a song, "Winners,” which in the film is sung by Arthur Prysock. Frank Sinatra included the song in his 1973 Reprise Records album, Ol' Blue Eyes Is Back. The song is often used in sports-related news shows and documentaries, but the film version has never been released.
MAURIE opened in Cincinnati on 30 July 1973. When it opened in New York a few days later, A.H. Weiler of the New York Times said that the film’s story was “unfortunately, rarely moving as drama” and that it “evolves on screen with largely soap-opera effects.” “Daniel Mann's direction is uninspired, and the script by Douglas Morrow . . . has not effectively transplanted much of what was real and affecting in the Stokes-Twyman story into touching movie terms.” Modern reviewers have echoed similar criticisms. In a two-star rating, Leonard Maltin calls the film a “well meaning but downbeat tearjerker” that is “too similar to other sports-tragedy films to stand out.” And The Motion Picture Guide gives the film one and a half stars, saying that “Director Mann obtained fine performances in the manner that marked his more successful projects, but the script is so laden with obtuse sentimentalism that all the work by Mann and his actors seems totally wasted.”
The release of the film was handled in the traditional way for 1973, by sending it first to big cities to build up interest for the film in the smaller markets, but by December 1973 both the film and its distributor National General, which was in the process of going out of business, had closed. MAURIE’s producers noticed that the film held little appeal with inner city African-American audiences that were targeted by National General, but that the film did well in smaller, Midwestern cities. Believing that the film deserved another chance, in 1975 Ross and Morrow bought back the film, funded $200,000 for publicity, and hired veteran distributor Max Youngstein to stage a re-release. Youngstein, who had had success re-releasing the 1971 film BILLY JACK, changed the title to BIG MO and advertised in the “heartlands” and small towns, and planned to delay presenting the film to big cities until the spring of 1976. As part of the re-release publicity, future president Ronald Reagan, who was then the former governor of California, recorded radio endorsements of the film that aired on more than three hundred ABC radio stations.
It’s not known whether or not the re-release of the film was successful. The film may later have received some television bookings under the BIG MO title. The film was released as BIG MO by Vestron Video on a hard-to-find cassette. MAURIE was not registered for copyright at the time of its original release, but on 23 January 2001, the film was registered under its re-release title, BIG MO, by CME Entertainment, LLC and Screen Media Ventures, LLC. Where the film’s elements are is anyone’s guess. When the American Film Institute tried to locate a print of the film to view for its cataloging project, the only copy of the film that could be found was missing the first reel. The crew credits had to be obtained from reviews and other contemporary sources. The cast list was taken from the end credits of the viewed print.
My question about a film is probably very easy: when I was growing up an English-dubbed Romanian film with the English title Kingdom of the Clouds was always on TV. Do you know anything about this movie?
KINGDOM IN THE CLOUDS was a 1968 Rumanian film produced by Bucharest Film Studio and originally titled “Tinerete Fara Batrînete” (“Youth Without Age”). The 88-minute film concerned a young man who searches for the Kingdom in the Clouds, an enchanting land where no one ever grows old. During many strange and wonderful adventures, he performs several good deeds and is rewarded by those he helps.
The Rumanian film was purchased by Xerox Films for release in the U.S., one of a series of foreign films so acquired. At the time, little was known about Xerox Films, other than the assumption that it was a subsidiary of the photocopy giant, Xerox Corporation, of Stamford, Connecticut. Xerox Films was a small part of the Xerox Education Group (XEG), which began in early 1962 with the acquisition of University Microfilms, Inc., and by 1965 included Basic Systems, Inc. (BSI) and American Education Publications, Inc. (AEP). BSI operated the Women's Job Corps Training Center in Huntington, West Virginia for the Office of Economic Opportunity and also created schooling materials designed for many different levels of achievement. AEP, best known for producing the legendary educational newspapers My Weekly Reader and Current Events, also published many educational materials covering all levels of primary and elementary education. American Education Publications changed its name to Xerox Education Publications in 1972.
Xerox Films was first mentioned in Xerox's 1970 annual report to shareholders: "Another new company, Xerox Films, completed its first full year of operation in 1970 and has begun production and acquisition of motion pictures and audio-visual materials both for the education and consumer markets."
Heading the Xerox Films project was Thomas D. Anglim. Anglim enlisted the aid of audio-visual guru Robert Braverman to help acquire and ready the films for market. Knowing that their budget did not allow for the creation of original productions, Anglim sought out foreign film properties which could be purchased inexpensively and reworked for an American audience. In this, Xerox Films followed the lead of other players in the kiddie matinee field such as K. Gordon Murray and Barry Yellen's Childhood Productions.
Like these importer-producers, Anglim sought out the services of one Gerald Rappoport, long considered one of the most successful "brokers," or importers, of films from Eastern Europe. Rappoport had strong ties with many film exchanges in Europe and elsewhere, and was able to round up almost a dozen above-average children's films from France, Canada, Czechoslovakia, and elsewhere.
Xerox Films purchased U.S. distribution rights to the package, and enlisted the aid of Belluci Productions in New York to translate the films to the English language, for the U.S. and Canadian kiddie matinee market. Janet Waggener worked on the scripts, while Robert Braverman wrote theme songs for the films.
The original Xerox Film package included the following films:
THE WISHING MACHINE (Automat na prání) (1967, Czech) produced by Ceskoslovensky Filmexport and Societe Generale de Production.
THE MAGIC OF THE KITE (Cerf-volant du bout du monde) (1958, France/China)
KINGDOM IN THE CLOUDS (Tinerete fara batrînete) (1968, Romania)
THE HERO PRINCE: THE LEGEND OF HARAP ALB (De-as fi Harap Alb) (1965, Romania) a production of Bucuresti Film Studios
BLIND BIRD (Slepaya ptitsa) (1963, USSR) produced by Science Film Studios U.S.S.R.
GRANDPA CHILLE CHALLA (A Varázsló) (1969, Hungary) a production of Mafilm Studio
DOGS TO THE RESCUE (aka Silent Friends) (1969, Canada/Romania) a Canadian-Romanian co-production by Legend Films and Studio Bucuresti.
THE CHRISTMAS MARTIAN (Le Martien de Noël) (1971, Canada)
JUST BECAUSE YOU'RE GROWN UP (Dospeláci muzou vsechno) (1969, Czech) a production of Kratky Film Praha ; Gottwaldov Film Studio.
A CHILD FOR TONY (Tony, tobe preskocilo) (1968, Czech) produced for Barrandov Film Studio by Erich Svabik-Jan Prochazka.
Xerox no doubt had high hopes for this series of "art films for kids.” In 1971, Xerox Films released the first three films in the series, starting with THE WISHING MACHINE in February, followed by THE MAGIC OF THE KITE and KINGDOM IN THE CLOUDS in November. Marketed under the banner "Entertainment to Grow On", Xerox Films emphasized in their publicity material that these were "Special" films for kids, not the run of the mill kiddie matinee product, which by then likely had a bad reputation. In the case of the three inaugural releases, they were certainly correct; all three are exceptional fantasy films with much to recommend them. However, Xerox was perhaps not prepared for the radical change in the kiddie matinee market a full decade after its inception by K. Gordon Murray with his 1960 release SANTA CLAUS.
By 1971, the influence of 1960's culture had hit full force, with psychedelic imagery, pop art design, and stroboscopic editing appearing even in children's film and TV product (witness "Sesame Street" and "The Electric Company"). Thus, the charming but quaint Xerox releases, with their overt European patina, likely seemed "corny" or "old-fashioned" to the somewhat sophisticated kiddie matinee audience of the 1970s.
At any rate, boxoffice business on all three films was dismal. It was decided to shelve the remaining releases, and the first three films were leased to Paramount Pictures, where they were re-released a few years later under Paramount's "Family Matinee" series of new films and classic film revivals. The complete original Xerox Films package surfaced on a little-known videotape series called "Specially For Kids" from Studio Off-Hollywood Entertainment. These rare titles, released in 1993, can still be found at some public libraries. The copyright to the English-language versions of about five or six of the films is currently held by someone named Len Anthony Smith and Images Corporation.
KINGDOM IN THE CLOUDS is considered a lost jewel by many, a full-fledged fantasy-adventure with many supernatural overtones. Ten years earlier, you could easily see American International Pictures or Roger Corman releasing this to drive-ins and suburban houses, like THE MAGIC VOYAGE OF SINBAD or THE SWORD AND THE DRAGON. All feature a brave warrior in a primitive foreign landscape taking a simplistic, episodic journey of spirit which is based on a native folk tale.
Largely studio-bound and boasting elaborate sets and visual effects, KINGDOM IN THE CLOUDS evokes the fantastic worlds of filmmakers such as George Pal and Aleksandr Ptushko. A visually stunning film, KINGDOM features huge studio sets as well as fantastic ultra-natural landscapes, in addition to some effective miniatures, and even some stop-motion animation. Impressive optical effects abound, as well as many costumed characters, maintaining a delightful theatricality throughout.
In its depiction of a lone innocent seeking a magical kingdom and meeting creatures both good and evil on his way, KINGDOM is likely Rumania's answer to THE WIZARD OF OZ, and not a bad attempt at that. The hero of the piece, who goes entirely unnamed, is a generic construct of youth, innocence and virtue, beset by all form of iconographic temptation. His journey unravels in a strictly straightforward narrative, but is nonetheless charming for that, and many of his adventures can still evoke a sense of wonder on first viewing.
The few critics that saw KINGDOM IN THE CLOUDS tended to like it. Howard Thompson of the New York Times said that the film “moves at a simple graceful clip” although “the pace gets a little stiff and starchy inside the ornate palace, where royalty glides around like molasses. But the middle third clatters like a slam-bang western, including some fighting that small boys should relish.” “By any standards, the picture is beautiful to look at with lavish, exotic costumes and a stunning sweep of never-never land that blends deep natural panoramas and artistic interiors. The English dubbing is quite good, fortunately. . . . The musical score is lovely and lyrical on cue and ripely thumping when it should be. Finally, the tale ends with a sensible earthy twist that all ages might ponder: reality beats dreamland.” And while Thompson felt that “Adults should enjoy this exotic eyeful, too,” he concluded that Xerox “has picked itself a plum for the children. This is their hour and a half.”
Big Mo did pop up on TV in syndication on local TV stations in America for a while in the 80's, i am pretty sure it also got a ABC Network showing, stuck in a 90 minute slot in the 70's.
Or maybe the movie you are thinking about is Vanishing point-71- With Barry Newman, was there not a scene of a naked woman on a motorcycle in that film.
Back around 1974- Howco releasing company put out a triple feature in certain areas of the country including New York Night of bloody horror-69- Woman and bloody terror-72- and night of the strangler-73- with [monkees] Mickey Dolenz[spelling], all 3 got very small video releases in the 80's and have not been on TV, free or cable.Any comments on these obscurities.
TIDAL WAVE was the American title of a 1973 Japanese disaster movie called “Nihon Chinbotsu” (literally "Japan Sinks" or "Submersion of Japan"). The film was based upon a novel published by Sakyo Komatsu in 1973. Komatsu took nine years to complete the work, which received the Japanese Detective Writers Association Prize and the Seiun Prize for a Japanese novel-length work. The film finds Japan racked by earthquakes and volcanoes, and the country slowly sinking into the sea. A race against time and tide begins over several years as Americans and Japanese work together to salvage some fraction of the disappearing Japan.
The screenplay for “Nihon Chinbotsu” was written by Shinobu Hashimoto, one of Japan’s most prolific screenwriters. Hashimoto had co-written many of Akira Kurosawa’s greatest films, including RASHOMON, SEVEN SAMURAI, and THRONE OF BLOOD. The film was directed by Shirô Moritani, who had been directing since 1966. Starring in “Nihon Chinbotsu” were Keiju Kobayashi, who played an elderly scientist, and 27-year old Hiroshi Fujioka, who played a submarine pilot. Kobayashi had been acting since 1942 and had appeared in Kurosawa’s SANJURO (1962) and Hiroshi Inagaki’s CHUSHINGURA. Fujioka had only been acting since 1966. Sakyo Komatsu, the author of the novel, made a cameo appearance in the beginning scenes of the movie. The film was scored by Masaru Satô. A CD with 42 minutes of his music was released on VAP Inc. Records in 1996.
Here’s one of the score’s themes:
The 143-minute “Nihon Chinbotsu” was one of the most expensive productions filmed in Japan to that time, with a budget of about $1.8 million. It caused a sensation when it was released in 1973 by Toho, and grossed nearly $7 million in Japan and slightly more than that in the rest of the world. That made it the most popular Japanese film ever, up to the time of its release. The film was released the same year in which the novel was published. Phil Hardy, in his Encyclopedia of Science Fiction Movies says that “this spectacular disaster film . . . seems to be a parable about Japan’s relationship with the West, which is willing to buy Japanese goods but unwilling to receive the Japanese as citizens. . . . Moritani directs vigorously, eliding and compressing whenever possible the tragic love subplot about the separation of Ayumi Ishida and Tetsuro Tanba, in favour of Tereyoshi Nakano’s spectacular special effects.” Michael Weldon’s Psychotronic Encyclopedia of Film says that “The scenes of destruction (by the people who’ve been wrecking cities with Godzilla for years) are excellent.” And John Stanley’s Creature Features Movie Guide says that “director Shiro Moritani captures a feeling of doom unusual in Japanese films of this kind.”
Soon after the film was released, Roger Corman bought the U.S. rights for his New World Pictures. Corman edited out much of the original plot from “Nihon Chinbotsu” keeping many of the spectacular effects sequences. He then added new plot sequences directed by Andrew Meyer starring Lorne Greene, as an ambassador at the United Nations, and Rhonda Leigh Hopkins, a newcomer in her first film, who provided a female presence in what was almost an exclusively male cast. In all, the U.S. release, re-titled TIDAL WAVE, was shorn of more than an hour, and ran only 82 minutes. The revised film was released in May 1975. Here is a U.S. television spot:
TIDAL WAVE was obviously not a film designed to please the critics. Roger Ebert felt that it failed even by the standards applied to bad movies, and called it “purely and simply a wretched failure, a feeble attempt to paste together inept special effects (filmed in Japan) and Lorne Greene (filmed in America to his everlasting regret, I'll bet).” Even at 82 minutes, Ebert felt that “The movie never ends, but if you wait long enough it gets to a point where it's over.” Leonard Maltin says that TIDAL WAVE is a “laughable Americanization of [a] big-budget (and superior) Japanese film. Epic special effects are dwarfed by idiotic new footage with Greene and horrible dubbing. For diehard disaster buffs only.” The Psychotronic Encyclopedia of Film discusses the cuts made in the Americanized version, and concludes “What’s left is nonsense.” The Creature Features Movie Guide says that the “excessive U.S. editing destroyed the film’s continuity.” And The Motion Picture Guide dismisses TIDAL WAVE as a “dubbed-in mess.”
One source claims that “Nihon Chinbotsu” had a U.S. release in an uncut, subtitled version, but this has not been confirmed. New World’s TIDAL WAVE pulled in $3.5 million at the U.S. box office, which greatly exceeded what Corman had paid to produce the Americanized version. (I saw TIDAL WAVE in 1977, on a double bill with another New World film, the disaster documentary CATASTROPHE.) TIDAL WAVE was reportedly released on cassette by New World Video. It may also be available from some gray market retailers. The full 143-minute “Nihon Chinbotsu’ was released on a 2003 Japanese DVD, but without any English subtitles. It was also made available on a Region 3 Hong Kong DVD in a 110-minute version that does have English subtitles. “Nihon Chinbotsu” was remade by Toho in 2006, with the latest special effects, by director Shinji Higuchi.
Shinobu Hashimoto would continue writing screenplays until 1983, and Shirô Moritani would continue directing films until that year as well. The two would collaborate on 1977’s HAKKODASAN. Moritani would die in 1984 at the age of only 53. Keiju Kobayashi would continue acting right up until he died in 2010 at age 86. He appeared in nearly 200 films. Hiroshi Fujiko is still acting today, and over the years has appeared in several films that received U.S. exposure, such as GHOST WARRIOR (1986) and K2 (1991). Lorne Greene would spend most of the rest of his career in television, acting until he died in 1987 at age 72. Rhonda Leigh Hopkins would appear in two more Corman films, then have a few television roles, the last of which was a small part in a 1982 episode of “Dynasty.”
To Bob- nice piece of music there, thanks, it would be nice if one day they would put on DVD , the original version of this film, i am sure it would sell pretty good, since the word of mouth is optimistic.I saw it in 75 by itself[that is Tidal wave] with Lorne Green, i remember there was one fantastic special effect scene , that one critic said it was more exciting then anything that came out of Hollywood disaster films of the 70's, however like many others i felt the film as a whole was a pretty much mess[Roger should have known better, but then it made money for him]The film was shown on WOR -TV channel 9 in NEW YORK IN THE EARLY 80'S, I remember the night, one of my cats died that night.
BAXTER! is a 1973 film that tells the story of Roger Baxter, an introspective young boy, who suffers from a speech impediment that prevents him from pronouncing the letter “R.” Rather than humiliating himself by trying to pronounce his first name, he calls himself “Baxter.” The film was directed by actor Lionel Jeffries, who had enchanted critics and audiences alike with his first directorial effort THE RAILWAY CHILDREN (1971), which depicted the lives of three impoverished children during the Victorian era. BAXTER! was a co-production of Anglo-EMI Productions, Group W Films, and Hanna-Barbera Productions.
Scott Jacoby played Baxter, Patricia Neal played a speech therapist who tries to help the boy, Britt Ekland plays a model who strikes up a friendship with the boy, and Jean-Pierre Cassel plays the model’s boyfriend. The IMDB oddly credits French writer Michel Audiard for the screenplay, but all other sources credit Reginald Rose (12 ANGRY MEN) with the script, adapted from the 1968 novel “The Boy Who Could Make Himself Disappear” by Kin Platt. Michael J. Lewis scored the film, but none of the music has been commercially released.
The film's working titles were “The Boy” and “Love Baxter!” Filming took place from 30 November 1971 to early February 1972 at EMI-MGM Elstree Studios, Boreham Wood, Hertfordshire, England, and on location in London. National General Pictures opened the film in New York on 4 March 1973. And. once again, critics gave Jeffries a good set of notices.
The Washington Post’s Michael Kernan informed readers that the film “is guaranteed to tear you up,” which he attributed to the film’s “emotional electricity” and the fact that the characters “have been brought to life for us—we are made to care for them in a way many films don’t bother even to attempt.” Agreeing, New York’s Judith Crist said that the film emerged as “a warm, absorbing and shattering tale of a youngster in crisis,” thanks to the “noteworthy performances.” And Charles Champlin of the Los Angeles Times declared that “the central strength of BAXTER! is inevitably, Baxter himself—young Scott Jacoby, who played Hal Holbrook’s son in television’s “That Certain Summer” and who is a sensationally talented young actor.”
Reportedly, BAXTER! had been cut down from an original running time of 105 minutes to its release length of 100 minutes. But Vincent Canby of the New York Times remarked that “cut down to 60 minutes [this] solemn film might look fine on the small screen” (“There is not enough in the screenplay to sustain the 100-minute running time or to support the fancy audio-visual effects that the director employs to dramatize poor Baxter’s collapse.”). But even Canby admitted that the picture was a “sincere” one in which “all of the performers are most attractive.” Overall the vast majority of critics concurred with Arthur Knight of Saturday Review that the screenplay “with its strong characterizations and compact scenes, manages to evoke the radiance of childhood and the exuberance of youth so tellingly that . . . by the end of the movie you care desperately for Baxter.”
After 3 years of television work, Scott Jacoby’s next feature film would be with Jodie Foster in THE LITTLE GIRL WHO LIVES DOWN THE LANE (1976). He would topline 1978’s OUR WINNING SEASON. And has anyone seen or even heard of a 1997 version of TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD that Scott Jacoby directed with Matt Moses?
BAXTER! has not been released on any home video format, and the American Film Institute could not locate a print of the film to view for its cataloging project.
The American Film institute could not LOCATE A PRINT, of this film?.WOW, A 1973 film [not 1933] that played in a bunch of locations including New York City at a bunch of theatres, i am pretty sure i have somewhere the ad in The Daily news and New York times, the week it opened back then.I know the Networks passed it by. However if my mermory serves me well[i used to buy years ago 70's 80's, out of town TV Guides in different markets.] i think a L.A station showed Baxter back in the early 80's or so. As anyone who knows about films, One movie could be shown to death in Syndication in New York, but never shown in Chicago. A film could be shown to death on a local station in L.A. and never shown in New York.Hope it is not a lost film? which reminds me BOB- Would you like to do a thing on Robbie Benson film around the same time JEREMY-73?-This film is sought of obscure these days, it was on THIS, this past year, but it is pretty rare, lovely score by Lee Holdrige.
