sixties

THE GOLDFINGER SNUB

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Wonderful news that the Academy Awards will be paying homage to the 50th anniversary of James Bond. There may be a on-stage reunion of most of the actors and a number of Bond Girls (including Fantasy Femme Lana Wood who played Plenty O’Toole in Diamonds Are Forever) were interviewed for a featurette. And best of all Dame Shirley Bassey will be on hand hopefuly to belt out the should-have-been Oscar-winning song for 1964 “Goldfinger.”

Yes, folks not only did one of the most popular title tunes in history, with one of the most recognized beginnings in only a few notes, not receive the Academy Award it wasn’t even nominated! The music branch of the Academy was like the old boys club back then and nominated schmaltz and drivel over and over written by their compadres.

httpv://youtu.be/nCiqsrB2zTc

The Oscar in 1964 went to “Chim Chim Cheree” from Mary Poppins. The favorite choice of five year olds nation wide. The other four songs to get the nod over “Goldfinger” were YAWN the title tunes from Dear Heart; Where Love Has Gone: and Hush…Hush Sweet Charlotte plus “My Kind of Town” from Robin and the 7 Hoods. All classics that we remember so well today…NOT!

Also snubbed that year were all the instant classic songs from The Beatles’ A Hard Day’s Night. And forget about any song from an Elvis or beach movie. The Academy already passed over one of Elvis’s prettiest songs “Can’t Help Falling in Love with You” from Blue Hawaii so “Viva Las Vegas” didn’t stand a chance.

Lets hope this year the Academy makes up for snubbing “Goldfinger” and “For Your Eyes Only” (I thought”Live and Let Die” over rated and hated “Nobody Does It Better”) and finally bestows the little golden man on the well-deserving “Skyfall.”

THERE WERE BOND GIRLS IN SKYFALL?

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Click here to read my friend and film historian Shaun Chang’s interesting take on the Bond Girls in Skyfall. He makes some really interesting points on how in this movie, the women’s roles (excepting Judi Dench’s M), were not as important as in practically all the previous Bond films.

LOOKS LIKE PAMELA TIFFIN BUT TALKS LIKE A DUCK

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As readers of my Blog know I am a huge fan of sixties starlet Pamela Tiffin and am working on a book about her films from Hollywood to Rome. Most of her Italian movies are a rare breed to find on DVD so when one does appear it is a treat. That is until you pop it into the DVD player and find her voice is dubbed by another actress. That is the case with the newly released The Blonde in the Blue Movie.

tumblr_lbdtgr4w831qa70eyo1_500Originally released as Il vichingo venuto dal Sud (The Viking Who Came from the South) in 1971, it stars Lando Buzzanca as an Italian businessman who transfers to Denmark to experience a more liberated lifestyle. He falls in love with a free-spirited blonde coed played by Pamela. How free-spirited is she? Well to pay her tuition she stars in porno movies! Despite the subject manner and DVD box cover art, the movie is not that exploitative and more a study of the different cultures.

The box cover art lists the name The Blonde in the Blue Movie (the UK and Australian title). However, the actual movie when played is titled No One Will Notice You’re Naked. It is indicated that the DVD was produced from the sole remaining print of the version that received very limited release, if that, in the States. Watching you notice from the get-go that the transfer was from a very poor quality print . It was not re-mastered and features lines and knicks throughout.

Though Retromedia deserves high marks for releasing this obscure Italian import in the U.S., Pamela’s fans will be disappointed that she did not dub her own voice. Making matters even worse, the actress that did has an Italian accent though the character is Danish. Pamela however looks gorgeous running around Denmark in her stylish early seventies garb. Just savor her vision of loveliness and try to ignore the atrocious dubbing.

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