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Having just watched The Black Hole (1979) and digging around my voluminous stacks of movie memorabilia in the hope of finding something relevant  I chanced upon this gem from 1979 – the first issue of Science Fiction Media News, a 12-page staple-bound A4  fanzine produced by Martin Hatfield who hailed from Oxford, England. In the days before the Internet and the ubiquitous Blog, movie fans who didn’t have access to the trade press like Variety or Box Office or Screen International would find very lean pickings in the national media who were less keen than they are now on devoting space to details of forthcoming pictures. It was left to chaps like Martin to do the digging. If you were a member of the British Science Fiction Association you got this for free, otherwise it would set you back a princely 25p.

So what was the gen in 1979? The hot news was that Dino De Laurentiis had picked up the rights to Dune for $1 million. He planned a three-hour epic. Screenplay was being written by Frank Herbert who postponed completing the fourth book in the saga to take on the job. Pink Floyd, previously assigned the music score, were out as was Jerry Garcia of The Grateful Dead.

With the success of the likes of Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Hollywood knee deep in a new sci fi cycle, there weren’t enough SFX experts to go round, so budgets were mushrooming. Warner Brothers had to add another $1.5 million to the cost of Meteor and push back the release date by four months. Paramount’s Star Trek was worse hit, the effects budget quintupling from $4 million to a reported $20 million.

If you remember Mike Oldfield for “Tubular Bells,” you might not know that he supplied the music for The Space Movie directed by Tony Palmer. That there’s nothing new in Hollywood is attested by the fact that this newsletter was plugging Nosferatu starring Klaus Kinski while Hollywood spent a good part of the latter end of 2024 hyping, in counter-programming to top all counter-programming, the Robert Eggers version due out at Xmas.

Readers were also kept abreast of forthcoming movies like The Shape of Things to Come  headlined by Jack Palance and Carol Lynley, Roger Corman’s Deathsport, Robert Altman’s Quintet starring Paul Newman, Don Coscarelli’s low-budget Phantasm and Disney’s The Spaceman and King Arthur. Given the evil genius in Moonraker planned to use a space station to destroy Earth’s inhabitants, this was also classified as science fiction (although Mr Hatfield points out “the space content of this film is being pushed as science fact rather than science fiction”).

Films reviewed include Foes starring MacDonald Carey (“may be worth a look just to see how far SF…has NOT progressed since 1950”);  David Lynch’s Eraserhead (“the most original horror story to come along for years”), Nosferatu (“tantalizing”) and Quintet (“eminently watchable”). Also reviewed was Ken Campbell’s stage adaptation of radio serial The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

As ever, not all projects made it onto the screen. Paramount was scheduled to make Interview with the Vampire, but the Anne Rice novel took another 15 years to reach the screen and then through Warner Bros. British company Brent Walker planned to follow up The Stud (1978) and Quadrophenia (1979) with a contemporary vampire picture, Dracula Rocks, alas never made. Pop group The Osmonds were setting up to make a $6 million disaster movie Spaceport. Whatever happened to The Experiment based on the novel by James Clark? Or for that matter Bikers in Outer Space. Fancied seeing Vincent Price in Romance in the Jugular Vein? Too bad, it’s been cancelled. In other news, the novelization of Star Wars sold 896,000 copies in the UK, possibly a record for a novel in the genre.

Sinful Davey (1969) was a rare black spot during the second half of the 1960s for acclaimed independent production outfit Mirisch Brothers. With a loss of $2.57 million – counting domestic and foreign rentals –  it was only beaten in the red ink stakes by Blake Edwards war comedy (always a dangerous combination) What Did You Do in the War, Daddy? (1966) starring James Coburn which lost $2.75 million.

But otherwise this was a banner period for the mini-studio which made a profit of $36.1 million on an expenditure of $69.4 million. Except for the Blake Edwards, its biggest gambles turned out winners or at least scraped by into the black. Hawaii (1966) with Julie Andrews and Max von Sydow, budgeted at $13.9 million, produced $4.9 million profit and the all-star Cast a Giant Shadow (1966) steered clear of disaster, if only just, with a profit of $890,000 on its $5.51 million budget.

That Mirisch came racing home in triumph was largely down to a pair of less conspicuous projects. Getting by on the third-lowest budget of the period, the Oscar-winning In the Heat of the Night (1967) transcended its miserly budget of $2 million to carve out a $16 million notch on the box office rentals bedpost. Norman Jewison Cold War comedy The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming (1966) pulled in nearly $8 million profit on a $3.9 million budget. Romantic heist thriller The Thomas Crown Affair (1968), pairing Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway, with double the budget of In the Heat of the Night, scored just shy of $7 million profit.

The sequel Return of the Seven (1966), with Yul Brynner leading a new team of gunslingers, shot up $3.62 million profit on a paltry budget of $1.78 million. A second Blake Edwards comedy The Party (1968), with Peter Sellers, made a profit of $1.5 million on a $3 million.

With only four out of 18 movies registering as official flops, the rest of the pack broke even or better. There would be some sighs of relief that John Sturges 70mm western The Hallelujah Trail (1965) starring Burt Lancaster and Lee Remick, limped home with $385,000 in the black after an expenditure of $7.15 million. Sturges did better with the lower-budgeted The Satan Bug, based on the Alistair MacLean bestseller. Making do with a budget of $1.78 million, it was profitable to the tune of $822,000. Billy Wilder’s The Fortune Cooke (1966) with Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon, made $900,000 on a $3.7 million budget.

Two of the smallest-budgeted items – Return from the Ashes (1965) with Maximilian Schell and Samantha Eggar and Suzanne Pleshette melodrama A Rage to Live (1965) both brought in around $180,000 profit on budgets of $1.56 million and $1.32 million, respectively. The two other outright flops were Fitzwilly/Fitzwilly Strikes Back (1967) starring Dick van Dyke and another John Sturges western Hour of the Gun (1967) with James Garner and Jason Robards heading back to the OK Corral – $300,000 loss for the former ($2.9 million budget) and $600,000 for the latter ($3 million budget). Scraping home, literally by the skin of its box office teeth was the adaptation of Broadway musical How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying (1967) which managed a whole $5,000 profit on a $3.7 million budget.

However, Hollywood had become accustomed to downgrading foreign box office expectations, a caution borne out by the proportionately poor overseas response to the likes of Hawaii which only managed $2.8 million on foreign rentals. The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming made four times as much in rentals in the U.S. compared to abroad, In the Heat of the Night’s domestic contribution was double that of foreign.

On the other hand, foreign was the major reason Return of the Seven did so well. It pulled in $3.9 million in rentals overseas – the fourth biggest result of the period – compared to a disappointing $1.5 million at home. Similarly, Hour of the Gun would have been an even greater flop after the domestic market delivered only $900,000 in rentals, allowing redemption of a sort with $2.4 million abroad. Even The Hallelujah Trail had foreign audiences to thank for $4.5 million compared to $3 million at home. The Satan Bug did twice as much business away from home as in the U.S.

Of course, when I talk about profit that’s only in reference to rentals compared to budget. Other costs have to be added in before movie is considered a genuine success. That’s best exemplified by earlier Mirisch picture The Great Escape (1963). Budgeted at $3.75 million, it brought in global rentals of $11 million but only made $326,000 in final profit. Some Like It Hot (1959) amassed rentals of $12.9 million on a $2.8 million budget. Profit? Just $487,000.

Who’d be a movie producer?

.SOURCE: “Mirisch First 20-Picture Deal” and “Mirisch Second 20-Picture Deal,” United Artists Archive, Wisconsin Center for Film & Theater Research.

The Mirisch Brothers, the first of what would be called the “mini-majors,” ushered in a Hollywood production revolution in the 1950s and 1960s by not just paying over-the-odds for top directors and actors – $750,000 apiece for John Wayne and William Holden for The Horse Soldiers (1959) plus $250,000 for John Ford, for example – but giving them far greater freedom in the choice of scripts, control of pictures and a bigger share of the profits. This approach went down very well with the talent, less so with rival studios who complained their approach was driving up costs at a time when Hollywood was on the brink of collapse with  major studios teetering on the edge of bankruptcy as audiences plummeted.

Walter Mirisch was the name best known to moviegoers since he worked as producer on the company’s output. Harold Mirisch was best known to the studios since he was the guy who set up the deals and found the funding. Marvin Miriasch was the backroom boy who ensured the whole process kept ticking over.

Mirisch had secured a deal with United Artists to supply a series of pictures, the first contract calling for 20 movies. Generally, the company was lauded by the trade press as innovative thinkers producing a stream of noteworthy movies such as Some Like it Hot (1959), The Magnificent Seven (1960), The Great Escape (1963) and Irma La Douce (1963) .As independent producers they had more than their fair share of Oscar successes.

But like every player in Hollywood, they employed sleight of hand, convincing the media that they were highly successful operators when the reality was exactly the opposite. The Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research, part of the University of Wisconsin, holds a vast archive relating to United Artists. Within that archive, I was able to source the materials that cast an alternative light on the Mirisch Brothers’ initial foray into the Hollywood big-time.

The figures revealed that the first 20 pictures – including Some Like it Hot, The Great Escape and Irma La Douce – in the Mirisch-United Artists deal racked up a cumulative $8 million loss.

In fact, one of the factors driving down the company’s potential profitability was the amount of money it gave away in profit-share. In addition, the bigger profits were often to be found in distribution and exhibition. For a start, about 50% of box office revenue found its way into the exhibitor’s pockets. From what was left over, another big chunk went to the distributor, in this case United Artists, and once profit-participants had been paid off, there was sometimes remarkably little finding its way back to the Mirisch Brothers’ coffers.

For example, Some Like it Hot, which according to these figures generated a total of $12.9 million in domestic and foreign rentals* (i.e. what’s left after exhibitors have taken their share), racked up less than half a million dollars in profit for the Mirisch Brothers. The Magnificent Seven earned three times as much overseas as in the U.S. so though viewed as a flop at home it ended up with $321,000 in the bank. The Great Escape brought in a profit of $326,000 on total rentals of $11 million while Irma La Douce topped that with $440,000. The Apartment (1960) delivered Mirisch’s biggest profit of $1.09 million.

But those were the only films – out of the 20 launched in Mirisch’s first few years of operation – to turn a profit. The other 15 all hit the buffers. That was not a good ratio at all. That three-quarters of the Mirisch picks turned into losers was hardly cause for celebration.

Some of the losses were stratospheric for the time. The Children’s Hour (1961), with Audrey Hepburn picking up a colossal upfront fee, was in the red to the tune of $2.7 million. The loss on The Horse Soldiers amounted to $1.8 million with Billy Wilder’s ill-fated One, Two, Three suffering a $1.5 million loss with Toys in the Attic turning into a $1.2 million liability.  Stolen Hours with Susan Hayward added nearly $1 million to the company’s overall debt. Even Elvis Presley, at that point a guaranteed box office draw, offered no respite – the loss on Kid Galahad above $430,000 and that of Follow That Dream $195,000.

So you might be wondering with such a poor ratio of hits to flops why the Mirisch Brothers managed to stay in the game. Well, before the final figures were in on the contract to deliver the first 20 pictures, United Artists were already committed to a further 20 movies, some of which were already in production. But there were two other elements acting in Mirisch’s favor. The first was that exhibitors were desperate for new movies, the industry only beginning by 1963 to turn a financial corner, and it was expected that Mirisch would have learned from its mistakes and stop underwriting expensive pictures (which turned out to be untrue).

But second, and more importantly, the Mirisch losses did not impact so badly on United Artists. That studio made the bulk of its revenue from distribution. Even if a picture was a flop, UA’s 30% distribution fee was based on the gross, so a movie that maybe ended up as an overall financial flop could still generate enough revenue to keep UA happy.

Also, UA, now seeing record profits from the likes of its investment in Tom Jones (1963) and on the brink of a James Bond bonanza could afford to carry its production partner. So Mirisch kept on pretending it was a huge success and the trade press kept on believing it.

*These figures do not including television sale or future reissues. But initial television sales in the early 1960s averaged about half a million dollars for successful movies. What television would pay was based on the original domestic gross (i.e. perceived popularity). Only a couple of pictures, most notably The Magnificent Seven, significantly added to their initial release income through reissue. So it is extremely unlikely that the Mirisch Brothers would have gone into profit on those first 20 pictures through reissues and television sales in the 1960s, and doubtful if they would have even halved the losses. 

SOURCE:  “Mirisch Pictures First 20 Picture Deal,” Appendix II, United Artists Archive, Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research.

You might be surprised to learn that many of the “Behind the Scenes” articles that feature in the Blog have become more popular than some of the reviews. As regular readers will know I am fascinated by problems incurred in making movies. Most of the material has come from my own digging, and sources are always quoted at the end of each article. Alistair MacLean still exerts fascination – three films in the Top Ten. Last year’s positions in brackets.

1. (1) Waterloo (1970). No doubting the effect of Ridley Scott’s Napoleon in increasing interest in this famous flop that had Rod Steiger’s French emperor squaring off against Christopher Plummer.
2. (9) Man’s Favorite Sport (1964). Howard Hawks back in the gender wars with Rock Hudson being taken down a peg by Paula Prentiss.
3. (3) In Harm’s Way (1965). Otto Preminger takes off the gloves to expose problems in the American military around Pearl Harbor.
4. (7) The Guns of Navarone (1961). The ultimate template for the men-on-a-mission war picture with an all-star cast and enough jeopardy to qualify for a movie of its own.
5. (2) Ice Station Zebra (1968). A complete cast overhaul and ground-breaking  special effects are at the core of this filming of another Alistair MacLean tale.
6. (4) Battle of the Bulge (1965). There were going to be two versions, so the race was on to get this one to the public first.
7. (6) The Satan Bug (1965). The problems facing director John Sturges in adapting the Alistair MacLean pandemic classic for the big screen.
8. (5) Cast a Giant Shadow (1965). Producer Melville Shavelson wrote a book about his experiences and this and other material relating the arduous task of bringing the Kirk Douglas-starrer to the screen are told here.
9. (10) The Girl on a Motorcycle / Naked under Leather (1968). Cult classic starring Marianne Faithful and Alain Delon had a rocky road to release, especially in the U.S. where the censor was not happy.
10. (New Entry) The Sons of Katie Elder (1965). First envisioned nearly a decade before, Henry Hathaway western finally hit the screen with John Wayne and Dean Martin.
11. (11). Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970). Richard Fleischer dispenses with the all-star cast in favor of even-handed verisimilitude.
12. (New entry) Mackenna’s Gold (1969). Tortuous route to the screen for Carl Foreman-produced roadshow western, filmed in 70mm Cinerama, with an all-star cast including Omar Sharif, Gregory Peck and Telly Savalas.
13. (8) Sink the Bismarck! (1960). Documentary-style British World War Two classic with Kenneth More exhibiting the stiffest of stiff-upper-lips.
14. (13). The Bridge at Remagen (1969). British director John Guillerman hits trouble filming World War Two picture starring George Segal and Robert Vaughn.
15. (New entry) The Trouble with Angels (1966). Less than angelic Hayley Mills sparring with convent boss Rosalind Russell. Directed by one-time star Ida Lupino.
16. (New entry) For a Few Dollars More (1965). Sergio Leone sequel to first spaghetti western brings in Lee van Cleef to pair with Clint Eastwood.
17. (New entry) How The West Was Won (1962). First non-travelog Cinerama picture, all-star cast and all-star team of directors tackling multi-generational western and all sorts of logistical problems.
18. (New entry) Bandolero! (1968). Director Andrew V. McLaglen teams up with James Stewart, Dean Martin and Raquel Welch to fight Mexican bandits.
19. (New Entry) The Train (1964). John Frankenheimer replaced Arthur Penn in the directorial chair to steer home unusual over-budget World War Two picture with Burt Lancaster trying to steal art treasures from under the nose of German Paul Schofield.
20. (17) The Collector (1963). William Wyler’s creepy adaptation of John Fowles’ creepy bestseller with Terence Stamp and Samatha Eggar.

Not my pick of the flicks, but yours, the films viewed most often since the Blog began in June 2020. There’s no shaking Ann-Margret, a brace of her movies retaining the same top two spots as last year. Other standouts – i.e. more than one entry in the list –  include Raquel Welch, Gina Lollobrigida, Charles Bronson, Alain Delon, Angie Dickinson, Roger Moore and Jean Seberg.

The figures in brackets represent the previous year’s position and New Entry is self-explanatory.

1. (1) The Swinger (1966). All hail Ann-Margret, second year in a row at number one. Bouncy sex comedy that manages a sprinkling of innocence. 
2. (2) Stagecoach (1966). No prizes for guessing that it’s the presence of Ann-Margret (again) rather than Alex Cord that has hit a chord in this decent remake of John Ford’s famous western.
3. (4) Fraulein Doktor (1969). Grisly realistic battle scenes and a superb score from Ennio Morricone help this Suzy Kendall vehicle in which she plays a World War One German spy going head-to-head with Brit Kenneth More and taking time out for romantic dalliance with Capucine.
4. (34) In Harm’s Way (1965). Under-rated John Wayne World War Two number. Co-starring Kirk Douglas, Patricia Neal, Tom Tryon and Paula Prentiss. Director Otto Preminger surveys Pearl Harbor and after.
5. (7) Fireball XL5. The famous British television series (1962-1963) from Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, now colorized. “My heart will be a fireball…”
6. (6) Once Upon a Time in the West (1969). Along with The Searchers (1956) now considered the most influential western of all time. Sergio Leone rounds up Claudia Cardinale, Henry Fonda and Charles Bronson and that fabulous Morricone score.
7. (3) Jessica (1962). Angie Dickinson as a young widow incurring the wrath of wives in a small Italian town.
8. (New Entry) Thank You Very Much/ A Touch of Love (1969). Sandy Dennis as academic single mother in London impregnated by Ian McKellen.
9. (13) Pharoah (1966). Delighted to see this holding fast, climbing back up the table this year. Polish epic set in Egypt sees the country’s ruler at odds with the religious hierarchy.
10. (11) Baby Love (1969). Controversy was the initial selling point but now it’s morphed into a morality tale as orphaned Linda Hayden tries to fit into an upper-class London household.
11. (5) The Sins of Rachel Cade (1961) Angie Dickinson (again) as African missionary falling foul of the locals and Commissioner Peter Finch. Roger Moore in an early role.
12. (10) Vendetta for the Saint (1969). A more typical trademark role from Roger Moore. Two television episodes of the popular series combined sees our hero tackle the Mafia.
13. (New Entry) The Appointment (1969). Inhibited lawyer Omar Sharif discovers the secrets of Anouk Aimee in under-rated and little-seen Italian-set drama from Sidney Lumet.
14. (12) The Sisters / My Sister, My Love (1969). Incest rears its head as Nathalie Delon and Susan Strasberg ignore husbands and lovers in favor of each other.  
15. (21) Go Naked in the World (1961). Gina Lollobrigida finds that love for a wealthy playboy clashes with her profession (the oldest). Look out for highly emotional turn from the usually taciturn Ernest Borgnine.
16. (New Entry) Diamond Head (1962). Over-ambitious hypocritical landowner Charlton Heston comes unstuck in love, politics and business in Hawaii. George Chakiris, Yvette Mimieux and France Nuyen turn up the heat.
17. (9) Moment to Moment (1966). Hitchcockian thriller set in Hitchcock country – the South of France – as unfaithful Jean Seberg is on the hook for the murder of her lover.  Also featuring Honor Blackman.  
18. (20) The Golden Claws of the Cat Girl (1968). Cults don’t come any sexier than Daniele Gaubert as a French cat burglar.
19. (22) Pressure Point (1962). Nazi extremist Bobby Darin causes chaos for psychiatrist Sidney Poitier. Stunning dream sequences.
20. (New Entry) Young Cassidy (1965). Julie Christie came out of this best, winning her role in Doctor Zhivago as a result. Rod Taylor as Irish playwright Sean O’Casey.
21. (14) Can Heironymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humpe and Find True Happiness? Fellini would turn in his grave at the self-indulgence of singer Anthony Newley who manages to lament that women falling at his feet cause him so much strife. Joan Collins co-stars.
22. (8) The Secret Ways (1961). The first of the Alistair MacLean adaptations to hit the big screen features Richard Widmark trapped in Hungary during the Cold War. 
23. (New Entry) The Chalk Garden (1964). Wild child Hayley Mills, trying to break out of her Disney straitjacket, duels with governess Deborah Kerr.
24. (23) A Dandy in Aspic (1968). Cold War thriller with Laurence Harvey as a double agent who wants out. Mia Farrow co-stars.  
25.  (16) Pendulum (1968). Fast-rising cop George Peppard accused of murdering unfaithful wife Jean Seberg
26. (25) Once a Thief (1965). Ann-Margret again, in a less sexy incarnation, as a working mother whose ex-jailbird thief Alain Delon takes a detour back into crime.
27. (New entry) Fathom (1967). Raquel Welch models a string of bikinis as a skydiver caught up in spy malarkey.
28. (New entry) Farewell, Friend / Adieu L’Ami (1968). A star is born – at least in France, the United States a good few years behind in recognizing the marquee attractions of Charles Bronson. Alain Delon co-stars in twisty French heist thriller featuring Olga Georges-Picot and Brigitte Fossey.
29. (New Entry) Woman of Straw (1964). More sub-Hitchockian goings-on as Sean Connery tries to frame Gina Lollobrigida in a dubious scheme.
30. (28) The Girl on a Motorcycle / Naked under Leather (1968). How much you saw of star Marianne Faithfull depended on where you saw it. The U.S. censor came down heavily on the titular fantasizing heroine, the British censor more liberal. Alain Delon co-stars.
31. (New entry) Claudelle Inglish (1961). Diane McBain seeks revenge for being stood up at the altar in the Deep South.
32. (15) The Best House in London (1969). David Hemmings tries to do right by Victorian sex workers.
33. (19) Lady in Cement (1969). Raquel Welch models more bikinis as the gangster’s moll taken on as a client by private eye Frank Sinatra in his second outing as Tony Rome.
34. (30) She Died with Her Boots On / Whirlpool (1969). More sleaze than cult. Spanish director Jose Ramon Larraz’s thriller sees kinky photographer Karl Lanchbury targeting real-life MTA Vivien Neves.  
35. (New entry) Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 (2024). So I wasn’t the only one to enjoy Kevin Costner’s majestic western that became one of the biggest flops of the year.
36. (New entry) Prehistoric Women / Slave Girls (1967). Raquel Welch look away now. Martine Beswick attempts to steal the One Million Years B.C. crown.
37. (New entry) Five Card Stud (1968). Entertaining Henry Hathaway western thriller with Dean Martin, when not dallying with Inger Stevens, investigating a serial killer. Robert Mitchum as a preacher.
38. (31) The Misfits (1960). Last hurrah for Clark Gable, fabulous turns from Montgomery Clift and Marilyn Monroe in John Huston tale of losers. 
39. (New entry) Plane (2023). Die Hard on a desert island with Gerard Butler as a pilot tackling terrorists in the Pacific.
40. (32) Rage (1966). Glenn Ford and Stella Stevens combat pandemic in Mexican town.

Ever since I’ve started writing this Blog, a film starring a female has taken pole position in the Annual Top 30. And this year is no exception though it has gone down to the wire with Sandy Dennis literally pipping John Wayne at the post. I was somewhat surprised to see some movies that featured on this list last year so prominent again. These include Stagecoach, Fireball XL5, Fraulein Doktor and The Sisters.

1. Thank You Very Much/A Touch of Love (1969). Singleton Sandy Dennis comes to terms with pregnancy in London. Ian McKellen is the male lead.
2. In Harm’s Way (1965). Otto Preminger war epic based around Pearl Harbor. John Wayne and Kirk Douglas duke it out.
3. The Appointment (1969). Unusual Sidney Lumet drama set in Italy with Omar Sharif becoming mixed up with Anouk Aimee.
4. Stagecoach (1966). There’s no stopping Ann-Margret. Interest remains high in remake of John Ford classic also starring Alex Cord and Bing Crosby.
5. Young Cassidy (1965). Talking of John Ford, he was meant to direct this biopic of Irish playwright Sean O’Casey but took ill, leaving Jack Cardiff in charge. Rod Taylor and Julie Christie star.
6. Diamond Head (1962). Charlton Heston as hypocritical racist landowner in Hawaii. Co-stars George Chakiris and Yvette Mimieux.
7. Prehistoric Women/Slave Girls (1967). Martine Beswick is no Raquel Welch in One Million Years B.C. knock-off.
8. The Chalk Garden (1964). Hayley Mills sheds her puppy fat as wild child brought to heel by Deborah Kerr as a governess with a secret past. Co-stars John Mills and Edith Evans. Directed by Ronald Neame.
9. Fireball XL5. The colorised version of the Gerry and Sylvia Anderson futuristic classic British television series.
10. Pharoah / Pharon (1966). Polish epic – religion vs state in ancient Egypt.
11. Go Naked in the World (1961). Gina Lollobrigida finds out how difficult it is for a sex worker to fall in love. Fine Ernest Borgnine turn as a doting father.
12. The Swinger (1966). Ann-Margret again. She sings, she dances – she writes? Who cares about a barmy plot when she shakes her booty.
13. The Beekeeper (2024). Jason Statham kicks off a new action franchise with scintillating turn as black ops operative brought out of retirement. Jeremy Irons tries to keep the peace.
14. La Belle Noiseuse (1991). French drama in which Jacques Rivette explores relationship between painter Michel Piccoli and model Emmanuelle Beart.
15. Baby Love (1969). Teenager Linda Hayden unintentionally causing turmoil in dysfunctional middle class family in London.
16. Pressure Point (1962). Psychiatrist Sidney Poitier coming to terms with racist patient Bobby Darin.
17. Farewell Friend / Adieu L’Ami (1968). Charles Bronson had to go to France to find stardom in this heist thriller co-starring Alain Delon.
18. Fraulein Doktor (1969). Suzy Kendall’s finest hour as World War One German spy outwitting Kenneth More.
19. Immaculate (2024). Sydney Sweeney dons nun garb and encounters horror in Italian convent.
20. The Count of Monte Cristo (2024). Splendid adaptation of the classic Dumas novel of a wrongly-imprisoned man seeking revenge.
21. Fear No More (1961). Mentally disturbed Mala Powers mixed up in murder plot.
22. Woman of Straw (1964). Gina Lollobrigida takes on Sean Connery in Hitchcockian thriller.
23. Claudelle Inglish (1961). Thwarted bride Diane McBain exploits male desire in the Deep South.
24. Carry On Up the Khyber (1968). Innuendo gets a cloak of satire as the team make light work of the British in India.
25. The Trouble with Angels (1966). Hayley Mills again, another wild child, this time challenging Mother Superior Rosalind Russell in convent school.
26. Lilith (1964). War veteran Warren Beatty bewitched by troubled Jean Seberg at a mental institution.
27. The Sisters / My Sister, My Love (1969). Another French drama with Nathalie Delon and Susan Strasberg too tangled up with each other to bother with the likes of Giancarlo Giannini.
28. Five Card Stud (1969). Poker player Dean Martin turns detective as the body count mushrooms in Henry Hathaway western co-starring Robert Mitchum and Inger Stevens.
29. The Undefeated (1969). John Wayne chases defeated Confederate Rock Hudson into Mexico.
30. Villain (1971). Heist thriller with Richard Burton and Ian McShane as bisexual gangsters.

“At what age should a woman stop loving?” is one of the least used of the tag lines for The Idol and yet is the one that provides the strongest narrative thread. Had the movie been filmed from the perspective of Carol, the mother, the answer to the tagline – “when her hate becomes stronger than her hunger…when her pride overcomes her passion” – might have offered audiences something with greater depth than the final movie that appeared.

The movie took a heck of a time to arrive at the May-December reversal brief love affair and the Pressbook/Marketing Manual spends more time playing up the “generation gap.” It’s one of those Pressbooks where it appears the publicity masterminds were watching a different picture to the audience.

“Highlighting the lack of communication between the younger and older generations,” spouts the Pressbook, “director Petrie shows young people as lacking in values, while pointing out it is not necessarily their fault. He thinks parents today are unwilling or unable to pass along to their children a concept of truth (“recollections vary” perhaps) – because they themselves are no longer sure of what is true, what is right and wrong.”

Really? That’s not the movie I saw. The Pressbook is on surer ground when providing background to the filming. Much of the picture was shot in unusual locations like the 300-year-old Queen’s Inn in Chelsea and Brad’s Club in the West End, redecorated for the occasion with zebra skins, spears, shields and jungle foliage, the revamp so successful with existing customers the club wanted to buy the props from the production company. Star Jennifer Jones wore creations made by Italian fashion designers Galitzino and Emilio Pucci.

Michael Parks, heralded as a great new star after his role in The Bible (1966), preferred his part here. “I’d much rather be judged by my performance in The Idol – as a complicated young man with tremendous problems.” At least his characterization echoed his own impoverished life, attending 21 schools in a peripatetic childhood. At one high school his grades prevented him taking drama classes. He lived as a hobo for a time after leaving home, then worked as a door-to-door salesman.

The 14-page landscape A3 Pressbook offers relatively few marketing ideas for prospective exhibitors. There was a paperback book tie-in by Frances Rickett from Popular Library and an album of the score from composer Johnny Dankworth and an instrumental single. Oddly enough, singer John Leyton doesn’t sing.

There was an attempt to push the fashion angle, the Pressbook arguing that “many of these fashions typify the ‘mod’ look so popular with today’s clothes-conscious women.” Exhibitors in America were urged to use travel posters of England in their lobbies, even though since the movie was shot in black-and-white it hardly presents an appealing version of the country.

Parks has supposedly competition from John Leyton as the next big thing. Leyton came from English theatrical stock, mother an actress, father an owner of music halls and trained at the Actor’s Workshop in London. “Had Leyton not catapulted to fame as a singer, it would only have been a matter of time before the public would have singled him out for stardom as a fine actor.”

Jennifer Jones, on the other hand, required no puffery to be accepted as an actress. Her breakthrough came in Song of Bernadette (1943), one of six actresses tested but the only one who could convincingly look as if she had seen “a vision.” She had married legendary producer David O. Selznick and despite her box office marquee and Oscar recognition had largely been off-screen to fulfil the same role as she does in the picture – of a mother.

It’s coming! My latest book – King of the Action Thrillers – is on the films of Alistair MacLean. Regular readers will know movies based on the thrillers of the Scottish bestselling author are very close to my heart. As it would appear to be to yours. For, as you will be aware, readers of the Blog have responded massively to my behind-the-scenes tales of the making of a few of the MacLean movies.

The new book is based on exclusive access to many rare archives so I am able to tell – for the first time – the real story behind MacLean’s rise to movie prominence. In addition, I’ve tracked down a hitherto unknown screenplay. His books were turned into both big-budget blockbusters like The Guns of Navarone (1961), Where Eagles Dare (1968) and Ice Station Zebra (1968) as well as the more modestly budgeted Puppet on a Chain (1970) and Fear Is the Key (1972) which set new standards for all kinds of chase sequences.

MacLean was an absolute phenomenon in Hollywood terms. Between 1961 and 1979 a total of 13 of his books were turned into movies, an unprecedented hit rate. Another four began in television, and there was one final movie in 1989.  Given he only wrote 28 works of fiction that is some achievement.

This book isn’t published until November next year but is currently available for pre-order on Amazon so there’s no reason why it wouldn’t make a great Xmas present this year.

I’ve diversified somewhat in my activities. Vinegar Syndrome, one of the top DVD re-packagers, has called twice on my services for an audio commentary. So if you want to know what I sound like or you just find the Scottish accent soothing, check out my work on Henry Hathaway western Five Card Stud (1968). Although it starred the fairly macho likes of Robert Mitchum and Dean Martin, I also detected considerable feminist aspects which, it appears, others have overlooked. That’s already out. You can get it direct from Vinegar Syndrome.

Coming soon is my audio commentary on British cult sci fi The Terrornauts (1967), an Amicus production starring Simon Oates, Zena Marshall, Charles Hawtrey and Patricia Hayes and based on a bestseller by Murray Leinster, considered second only to H.G. Wells for his speculative imagination.

I’ve been paid a rather unique compliment by the highly esteemed Cinema Retro magazine. They are putting out a “Special Edition” – in magazine format with dozens of stills and posters – of my Making of The Magnificent Seven book, which covers the original series.

But that’s not out till January. The full version of the book is also available from Amazon at a very reduced price. If you’re a fan of the “making-of” books – as, judging by the views of my behind-the-scenes articles, many of you are – then you may well be interested in The Making of The Guns of Navarone (Revised Edition) and The Making of Lawrence of Arabia. For that matter, there is ample “behind the scenes” material in two other books. The Magnificent 60s examines in detail the  top 100 movies of the decade and could easily be retitled “how the decade was born.” The  Gunslingers of ’69 examines the western in a pivotal year that saw the release of The Wild Bunch, True Grit, Once Upon a Time in the West and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid among others.

My research into The Magnificent Seven spawned two other books. I came to write Coming Back to a Theater Near You, A History of Hollywood Reissues 1914-2014 as a direct result of discovering that the western had flopped on initial U.S. release and only became profitable there after several revivals. Equally, the movie enjoyed an unusual release pattern, going out in a what you’d call these days a rudimentary form of wide release and that led me to In Theaters Everywhere: A History of the Hollywood Wide release 1913-2017.

Since I’ve now written over a dozen books on the movies I’m not going to bore you with them all. You can check me out on Amazon.

I would beg you, however, to pass on to anyone you can think of the information regarding the Alistair MacLean book. It would be great if thanks to pre-orders it could open at No 1 in the Amazon movie chart.