New release: Toby Dammit. Nino Rota's rare score for Fellini's Toby Dammit will be released soon as a limited-edition vinyl LP. Part of the Spirits of the Dead omnibus project and "liberally adapted from Edgar Allan Poe's Never Bet The Devil Your Head, Federico Fellini's Toby Dammit was shot in twenty-six days over the winter of 1967-68, at the experimental film center near Cinecetta in Rome. It is an extraordinary piece of genuine film psychedelia, and rightly regarded to be amongst the director's finest work. The film was originally intended to be part of a Poe homage with contributions also from Ingmar Bergman and Orson Welles. In the event, Fellini's co-directors would be Louis Malle and Roger Vadim. Nino Rota's labyrinthine music is complimented here by Ray Charles performing Ruby (It's You) which is used eloquently in a scene at the awards ceremony."
The film itself is a wonderful time capsule of the period. 1967-1968 saw an interesting transition from the Mod aesthetics of the early-mid decade toward psychedelia and signs of social unrest. Examples of the shift could be seen in projects such as Danger Diabolik, The Prisoner, The Monkees 'Head', Easy Rider, Barbarella, Wonderwall, Casino Royale, Naked Under Leather (Girl On a Motorcycle), The President's Analyst, and Yellow Submarine. In Toby Dammit Terence Stamp portrayed an actor, seemingly pushed over the edge from success -and excess- who was brought to Italy to participate in a ceremony. Fellini's images concocted a feverish nightmare wrapped in vibrant colors and stylish fashion and technology. He had achieved a new level of colorful fantasy in Juliet of the Spirits (1965), and Toby Dammit showed the director at the height of his exploration of cinema as montage of cartoon/distilled graphics. This quality was made even more dramatic in the film by his use of stark textures and minimal set designs. The first third of the film glowed in amber futurism, with images of modern airport architecture and sci-fi globe monitors, and then gave way to a colder color palette as the protagonist sank deeper into his nightmare. It's was really a mini masterpiece. Check it out if you haven't seen it yet! The soundtrack record will be available from the Bella Casa label on Feb 26th in Europe and on March 4th in the US. More info at Amazon and AmazonUK. You can preview the music here. The film is available on DVD from Amazon here. Related posts: The 1968 Exhibit, Set For Adventure, Casino Royale Book, Wonderwall Blu-ray, Barbarella Returns, The Prisoner and Captain Scarlet Anniversary, Danger Diabolik Soundtrack, Tazio Secchiaroli.
Selected Spy Vibe Posts: 007 Manga, Avengerworld Book, Diana Rigg Auto Show, The Prisoner Audio Drama Review, David McCallum novel, Andre Courreges R.I.P., Who's Talking on Spy Vibe, UFO Blu-ray, Avengers Pop Art Interview, Fritz Lang Spies, Fergus Fleming Interview, Avengers: Alan Hayes Interview, Jaz Wiseman Interview, 007 SPECTRE Comics, Casino Royale Folio, New James Bond Comic, Diana Rigg BFI Interview, Casino Royale Interview: Mike Richardson, Early Saint Box Set, Lost Diana Rigg Interview, Honor Blackman at 90, UNCLE School, Ian Fleming Memorial, Radiophonic Exhibit, Portmeirion Photos, Doctor Who Exhibit, Farewell Steed, Pussy Galore Returns, Diana Rigg birthday, Sherlock at 221B, Invisible Agent, Saint Interview: Ian Dickerson, Saint Doppelgänger, Fleming's Typewriter, Rare Fleming, Fleming's Music, Ian Fleming's Japan, Jim Wilson Corgi Interview, Fantomas Design, Jeremy Duns on Bond, John Buss interview, Avengers Season 5 Titles, Saint Volvo, Mod Tales Interview, Agente Secreto Comics, Danger Man Comics 2, Danger Man Comics, John Drake Comics, Der Mann Von UNCLE, Golden Margaret Nolan, Man From UNCLE Rocksteady, Pussy Galore Calypso, Cynthia Lennon R.I.P., Edward Mann Fashion, Leonard Nimoy Tribute, Shatner at 84, Bob Morane series, Thai Bond Design, Bond vs Modernism, Art of Modesty, Tokyo Beat 1964, Feraud Mod Fashion, Green Hornet Manga, No 6 Festival, Avengers Interview: Michael Richardson, Ian Fleming: Wicked Grin, Jane Bond Hong Kong Records, Ryan Heshka Interview, Comics Week: Man From R.I.V.E.R.D.A.L.E., Comics Week: Archie, Comics Week: Robots, Comics Week: Cold War Atomic, Comics Week: SPYMAN, Comics Week: Jimmy Olsen, Shakespeare Spies: Diana Rigg, Shakespeare Spies I, Rodney Marshall Avengers Interview, Richard Sala: Super-Enigmatix, Cold War Archie, Playboy Bunny Interview, The 10th Victim Japanese and Kindle, U.N.C.L.E. Japanese Books, Trina Robbins Interview, Catsuits, Batman '66 Green Hornet Interview: Ralph Garman Ty Templeton.
Mystery Wednesday: Congratulations to Aunt Agatha's bookshop in Ann Arbor for their 2014 Raven Award from the Mystery Writers of America. Aunt Agatha's is a haven for mystery lovers, with its collection of 25,000 new and used books and a retail space packed to the rafters with intrigue. The National Raven award is giving to non-writers and institutions. Past winners include Alfred Hitchcock and the Edgar Allan Poe Society. Find out more at the Aunt Agatha's and Mystery Writers of America websites. More coverage of this event by the Detroit News here.
Recent Spy Vibe posts: Dylan at Newport, Jane and Serge, The Goldfinger Variations, Mod Tales Interview, Pete Seeger nominated for Grammy, Kraftwerk returns to US, Beatles BBC on Fresh Air, Steranko S.H.I.E.L.D. Artist Editions, David Tennant's Ian Fleming audio books, Atomic Art, Modern Architecture LP, Julius Shulman, The Prisoner and Captain Scarlet, HMV returns to Oxford st w Beatles promo, Diego Fortunato and Verner Panton, Saturday Morning Cartoons, Assassination Bureau on DVD, new Young Bond series, new Beatles BBC album, new Hercule Poirot novel, Early Beatles image archive, Julie Newmar, Erno Goldfinger, Hitchcock tribute.
Recent Ian Fleming posts on Spy Vibe: Erno Goldfinger, Ian Fleming Music Series links: Noel Coward, Whispering Jack Smith, Hawaiian Guitar, Joe Fingers Carr, new Ian Fleming Catalog, Jon Gilbert interview, Double 007 Designs, Bond audio book reissues, discovery of one of Ian Fleming's WWII Commandos, James Bond book covers, Ian Fleming's Playboy interview for Kindle, Spy Vibe's discovery of a rare Ian Fleming serialization, rare View to a Kill, Fleming's Royal gold typewriter, Ian Fleming's memorial address, Spy Vibe's Ian Fleming image archive.
With the recent release of the Fantomas collection from Kino International, Halloween last weekend, and a new Richard Sala book around the corner, It's been macabre mystery mania here at the Spy Vibe lair. I unfortunately missed the debut of the new Sherlock Holmes, but I have been busy enjoying the thrills and intrigue of classic French characters like Fantomas and Judex. Fans familiar with the penny dreadful tradition of serialized pulp fiction will hopefully recognize this rogue's gallery of mystery villains and avengers. If you have made the leap to an eReader, you might want to check out one of the many original Fantomas novels available on-line (many are priced around $1.00). You can even read them on your smart phone with Kindle's free app!
Spy Vibe wraps up Macabre Mystery Week with clips from two excellent film adaptations of Edgar Allan Poe starring Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff. In addition to the wonderfully dark storytelling and the charisma of these two classic Horror stars, both films feature imaginative and modern set designs. In The Raven (1935), Lugosi plays a surgeon who is driven mad by his love for a young woman he saved. His character is obsessed with Poe and a hidden lair of traps and chambers lies just behind the secret door in his bookcase. The mad doctor has built a working pendulum from The Pit and the Pendulum, and, while the contractors were there anyway, he went the extra distance to install one of those little rooms with walls that come crushing in. Throw Boris Karloff into the mix as a disfigured henchman and you have quite a nasty little treasure of a movie for the Halloween season.
Architecture fans will be even more excited to see The Black Cat (1934). In this story, Karloff plays an evil designer who has constructed a vast, modern home on the site of his old camp from WWI. The rooms sport contrasting curves and geometric lines, as well as Star Trek-like sliding doors. Down a spiral staircase below this marvel, however, lies hidden, angular chambers that resemble the bomb-shelter inspired designs of Ken Adam (James Bond series). The space is made creepier by its war-time roots, not to mention Karloff's collection of ladies preserved in glass cases (including the wife of Lugosi's character!). Well, you can imagine they have a lot to talk about. Did I mention the mad designer is also a satanist cult leader? This movie has it all. The film's production team included designer Edgar Ulmer, who also worked on Fritz Lang's M, Spies, Metropolis, and on Murnau's Sunrise. The art director of The Black Cat was Charles Hall, well-known for his many moody projects for Universal, including The Cat and the Canary, The Old Dark House, Dracula, Frankenstein, The Invisible Man, and The Bride of Frankenstein.
Here is a useful overview of the films from Monster Madness. I think Spy Vibers will enjoy the overall style of both movies and their use of adventure/thriller conventions. The Black Cat stairway photo still is from designer Quang Truong's post on modernism, The Black Cat, and Jacques Tati. More about set design and Ken Adam at Spy Vibe's article Set For Adventure here.
