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[sadystyk]

Lovely mag Stephen, I was wondering if it contained stills of the footage used in the French edit of the film that's missing from the Anchor Bay dvd?

I haven't seen the French edit yet but the fotonovel looks basically the same as the AB version,i'll have a comparison and see if there is anything extra and report back soon.

Cheers, I've read numerous reviews mentioning this footage, supposedly much harder in terms of sex and violence than what's in the A.B release, and would love to see some stills. 

[Johan Melle]

Wonder who she was btw. She can also be seen very briefly in THE REINCARNATION OF ISABEL and probably others too as Polselli had a habit of using the same performers.

She also pops up in RIVELAZIONI as a prostitute,don't know what her name is though.

I suspect she is probably Anna Maria Ardizzone since she is also credited in all three films. She's also credited in Terence Young's WAR GODDESS of all things but I wasn't able to spot her. Then again, I wasn't able to spot Rita Calderoni or Agnes Kalpagos, either. I'm guessing it's because Retromedia's crappy release is cut...

Anyway, here are a couple of scans from the cineromanzo version of LA NOTTE DEI DANNATI (1971). Looks like a pretty cool film but I've never had the pleasure of watching it myself. I don't think an English-dubbed version of it has ever shown up on vhs...

[Johan Melle]

As Stephen mentioned earlier, Franco Gasparri from the Mark movies did lots of fotoromanzi and now I had the time to scan some fotoromanzo stuff with Gasparri. He played one of the leading roles in the very popular photo novel adventure series Le avventure di Jacques Douglas, which was published from 1965 to 1980. The series stopped when Gasparri was involved in a motorbike accident that left him paralyzed in 1980.

One of my favorite issues in this series is from 1975 and is called "Un uomo così non lo vorrei".



Like most Jacques Douglas stories, it contains lots of amusing adventure-style fun with Gasparri getting to do his share of fighting...



and making out with pretty girls...




But what makes this really interesting is the giallo-like plotline, which has Gasparri trying to catch a black-gloved killer who is running around strangling attractive young women.

The beautiful Wendy D'Olive from THE BLOODSTAINED BUTTERFLY (1971) and THE DEAD ARE ALIVE (1972) plays the first victim:




The gorgeous Paola Pitti is the imperiled heroine:



Definitely a great read and with some pretty magnificent photography. I know plenty of the Italian photo novels were also published in Spain, France etc but I'm pretty sure they were never translated in English. Which is a shame because many of them are amazingly cool!

[Johan Melle]

Now, does anyone here remember Kirk Morris? He was one of the many muscleman actors who played Hercules in various peplums in the 1960s. Personally, I always thought Kirk looked a lot like a pumped-up version of Elvis. He certainly had a more cute babyface than most of the other muscleman actors of that time.




Anyway, his IMDb biography claims that Kirk "migrated to the United States where he went into the advertising field. Years later he returned to Italy and the movies -- this time as a producer". However, that is total bogus! Kirk made his last film in 1969 and then started appearing in photo novels. He appeared in more than 1000 of these things before retiring in 2001.

One of Kirk's most popular roles was as Dan Sharrett, who was Franco Gasparri's humorous tough-guy sidekick in the Jacques Douglas series. And boy did he change his appearance! Just check out his Maurizio Merli-inspired look in this fotoromanzo from 1975:







I think he looks totally cool here! Makes me wish he had appeared in some poliziottesci in the 70s...


A couple of more cool photos of Kirk - these ones are from 1974:



Kirk together with Raika Juri, another fotoromanzo veteran. Raika also did some films like FLAVIA, THE HERETIC (1974).

[Johan Melle]

And finally a couple more familiar faces who appeared in photo novels:

Laura Antonelli starred in a couple in the late 60s and early 70s - before she became a big star. These pics are from 1970 and I must say she looked much more ordinary here when compared to how stunning she looked in the mid 70s.






Femi Benussi in a fotormanzo from 1975 (the brunette with her is Cristina Galbo btw):




Sherry Buchanan did bunch of photo novels in the 70s and 80s but almost always in supporting roles. Here she graces the front cover of a Jacques Douglas photo novel - one of her few leading roles:
(unlike the others, this magazine cover is not my own scan so i haven't actually read this one)



A nerdy-looking Sherry in a photo novel from 1979:




Angela Covello from SO SWEET, SO DEAD (1972) and TORSO (1973) was also in many of these in the 70s. Here is one from 1971:



Annamarie Clementi from EMANUELLE AND THE LAST CANNIBALS (1977) and PORNO SHOP ON 7th AVENUE (1978) did a few erotic photo novels such as one called "Sugar Baby", which was published in several parts in Gin Fizz magazine from 1985 to 1986:

[Stephen Grimes]

Anyway, here are a couple of scans from the cineromanzo version of LA NOTTE DEI DANNATI (1971). Looks like a pretty cool film but I've never had the pleasure of watching it myself. I don't think an English-dubbed version of it has ever shown up on vhs...

Great posts yet again,Johan :'(
No,there doesn't appear to be an English video version of Ratti's LA NOTTE DEI DANNATI,i put an ad up awhile back looking for a copy but was told by a couple of collectors that it doesn't exist.i got the locandina of it myself not long ago.
Btw. have you seen the last Glittering Images book with the feature on it?

[Stephen Grimes]

Then again, I wasn't able to spot Rita Calderoni or Agnes Kalpagos, either. I'm guessing it's because Retromedia's crappy release is cut...

Calderoni is also supposed to be in THE TRUE AND THE FALSE with Terence Hill but i'll be damned if i could spot her.Anyone?She's also in Petri's A QUIET PLACE IN THE COUNTRY with long red hair,took me a good while to realise it was her.

[Johan Melle]

I haven't seen that Glittering Images book, no, but'll have to get that. I suspect an English version of LA NOTTE DEI DANNATI may well exist but without ever having been released. Then again, it may not... That locandina is great btw! 

THE TRUE AND THE FALSE is being released by Koch Media soon but German and Italian audio options only. Still, this will be the film's first dvd release so it may well be worth picking up. As for Rita Calderoni... it's possible that she actually doesn't appear in the film. I've noticed on a few other occasions that credited actors just don't appear. Examples include Serafino Profumo in DEATH CARRIES A CANE, Dirce Funari in EMANUELLE AND THE LAST CANNIBALS, Maria Piera Regoli in EMANUELLE AROUND THE WORLD, Zora Kerova in THE NEW BARBARIANS and Luciano Pigozzi in several Bruno Mattei films from the late 80s. It's really odd but I suspect they probably did some scenes that got cut but still retain an on-screen credit because of contractual reasons or something like that.

[Stephen Grimes]

I haven't seen that Glittering Images book, no, but'll have to get that. I suspect an English version of LA NOTTE DEI DANNATI may well exist but without ever having been released. Then again, it may not...

The Glittering Images 'Italian Sexy Horror' book is essential,there's a thread on it in this part of the forum.

I've seen DANNATI refered to as NIGHT OF THE DAMNED in a few mags/'zines/sites etc so it may have had an English version prepared but i've never seen any video version,be great if it did turn up though as i'd love to see it.

[Johan Melle]

Yeah, I've seen it referred to as NIGHT OF THE DAMNED too but wasn't sure if it was just a translation of the Italian title used by bootleggers a la NINE GUESTS FOR A CRIME.

I believe Midnight Video offers a vhs of the longer, jucier French version but $20 for a vhs bootleg is a bit much imo.

[Johan Melle]

Anyone familiar with this great site? http://www.movie-time.it/index.php

It's a really cool page that's offering distribution rights for various Italian films. It contains information about available language versions and has some really cool artwork for each film too!

Anyway, there's a listing for LA NOTTE DEI DANNATI: http://www.movie-time.it/show_movie.php?id=509
Only lists an Italian language version, which means an English-dubbed version most likely doesn't exist. Then again, it doesn't list a French dub either even though we know one exists...

[Stephen Grimes]

Anyone familiar with this great site? http://www.movie-time.it/index.php

Yeah Lefteris pointed this out to me awhile back,they've got some amazing films on their books including The Killer Reserved 9 Seats,the English version of Ricci's excellent Cross Current and Antoni Sabato's Black Lemons whose only English edition appears to be the fullscreen and terrible looking ntsc Unicorn tape.

[Johan Melle]

Yes, it's a great site. The only gripe I have with the site is that they don't list the names of the English export titles.

A similarly interesting site that offers distribution rights is this one: http://www.starlight.it/pages/principali-ing/films-ing.htm

Also, the Film Export site has an interesting librabry of films they have the rights to: http://web.filmexport.com/films/ricerca.htm

All these sites are very useful and often nice to check out if trying to determine if a certain film ever had an English dub prepared or not.

[Kevin Coed]

Good links 

[Johan Melle]

FROM CORLEONE TO BROOKLYN is definitely one of their most interesting titles and one that really, really needs a proper release! Another cool title they have is Luigi Batzella's THE DESERT TIGERS, which is one my my favorite guilty pleasures.

One thing that puzzles me a bit, though, is that they list LADY OF THE NIGHT as being in Italian only because it does exist in English. I know Luminous has a DVD-R of the English dub: http://www.lfvw.com/woman_in_night.html