Wednesday, August 31, 2022

German publisher pulls Winnetou books amid racial stereotyping row

Ravensburger Verlag reacts as debate rages over depiction of Native American character in children’s books

The Guardian

By Kate Connolly

August 23, 2022

A German publisher has announced it is withdrawing two new books paying tribute to a highly popular character in children’s fiction after facing accusations of racism and cultural appropriation.

Ravensburger Verlag, a leading publisher of children’s books in the German-speaking world, said its latest books on Winnetou, a fictional Native American hero who made his debut in 1875, would be pulled from its schedule and that it would also be considering whether to continue publishing other Winnetou titles in future.

Bookshops have reportedly been stopped from ordering the books from Ravensburger and they also appeared to have been pulled from Amazon on Tuesday. Editions by other publishers were still available.

The publisher said it was reacting to “many negative responses” to its publication of the books aimed at the 7+ age group, related to a recently released feature film called “The Young Chieftain Winnetou”, including one for learner readers.

The publishers’ move has sparked a debate over whether the film should also be pulled.

Karl May, the creator of the novels, who died in 1912, is considered to be the first bestselling author in the German-speaking world and is one of the most successful German writers ever, based on sales. His books, which started life as serial novels in newspapers and penny brochures, have sold around 200m copies worldwide and been translated into 40 languages.

The stories focus on the friendship between the character Old Shatterhand, a German immigrant to the United States who is the first-person narrator of them, and Winnetou, an Apache leader and his blood brother. They have spawned numerous films, referred to as “sauerkraut westerns”, theatre plays and popular festivals, which took place in both East and West Germany during the cold war and have continued to be held across Germany since reunification. The most popular, in Bad Segeberg, attracts about 250,000 people a year.

The novels were so popular the Nazis refrained from banning them, despite misgivings over the way they were seen to contradict their racial ideals by celebrating people of colour. Even Adolf Hitler was said to have been a fan.

May, who is considered the alter ego of Old Shatterhand, made much of his travels to the American west – displaying a necklace of bear teeth as proof he had been there – even though he did not travel outside Germany until years after his first publishing success and visited America only once he was well into his writing career. Even then, he did not venture further than Buffalo, New York. He is credited with fuelling the imaginations of generations of young Germans, particularly before the days of mass foreign travel, and of nurturing their fantasies about living close to nature.

But a heated debate on social media in particular has accused the Winnetou books of reproducing racist stereotypes originating in colonialism, as well as of cultural appropriation in their depiction of traits of Indigenous people.

The decision has split social and cultural commentators. Supporters of the move have described May’s literary attempts to conjure an idyll in the country of origin of the Indigenous people of North America as a “lie, which completely edits out the genocide of the Indigenous people, the unjust settlement of their land by white settlers and the destruction of their natural habitat,” according to Die Zeit, summarizing the angry response.

The tabloid Bild meanwhile has led the calls for the books to be reinstated, insisting that “woke hysteria” was responsible for “burning the hero of our childhood at the stake”.

The head of Ravensburger Verlag, Clemens Meier, said the books had to be viewed through the perspective of historical reality, against which they displayed a “romanticised picture with many cliches”.

In a statement, the publisher added: “It was never our intention to hurt other people’s feelings with these titles. Our editors are intensely mindful of topics like diversity or cultural appropriation.”

Who Are Those Gals? – Maria Custodio

 

Ana María Muñoz Custodio was born in Écija, Sevilla, Andalucía, Spain on March 19, 1908. She was the daughter of a military man and the sister of the writer Álvaro Custodio [1914-1992]. Her childhood and youth were divided between her hometown, Madrid, and Morocco. In 1925, while living in the capital, she made her debut at the Lara theater with the company of Ricardo Baeza and she worked in those of Lola Membrives and Irene López Heredia; She soon became the most sought-after young actress on the Spanish scene at the time. Stardom reached her with her interpretation in the comedy Doña Hormiga, by the Álvarez Quintero brothers, this led to her leap to the big screen in 1931, materializing in a six-month contract with Fox that meant her transfer to Hollywood to shoot Hispanic sound versions. She was thus part of the second expedition of Spanish actors taken to the mecca of cinema along with Carmen Larrabeiti, Carlos Díaz de Mendoza and Miguel Ligero, participating in films such as “Body and Soul”, “Do You Know Your Wife?”, There were thirteen films, all by D. Howard, and “My Last Love”, by L. Seiler. Disappointed with her debut before the cameras, she returned to Spain in 1935 to combine theater with cinema. In this way, she was part of the group of actors of the Filmófono production company, one of the most representative of the Second Republic, during Luis Buñuel's stage as executive producer. For a couple of years, she was then the star of films by Luis Marquina, such as “Don Quintín el amargao” (1935), Benavente's work made into a film, “The Dancer and the Worker” (1936), and Jean Grémillon's “Sentinel!, alert!” (1936). The filming of Alejandro Casona's play “Nuestra Natacha” (1936), directed by Benito Perojo, coincided with the outbreak of the Civil War and she went into exile, which took her to Cuba, New York and finally to Mexico, where she settled with her second husband, the composer, director and music critic Gustavo Pittaluga. During these years she only participated in one film, the Mexican “When You Listen to This Waltz”, directed in 1944 by José Luis Bueno. Her return to Spain at the beginning of the 1950s was represented by her intervention in one of the most important Cifesa productions, “Alba de América” (1951), under the direction of Juan de Orduña, playing the role of Beatriz in this film that narrates the seafaring adventure of Columbus and his discovery of the New World. She continued with her film career, but she no longer lavished herself because she did not act in “The King's Star”, her next film, until six years later, although she was popularly remembered for her role as the Infanta Luisa Fernanda in “¿Where are you Going, Alfonso XII?”, which Luis César Amadori directed the following year, which he repeated in the sequel “Dónde vas triste de ti?” (1960) for Alfonso Balcázar. But, her stellar relevance progressively decreased, relegated to more and more secondary characters, fundamentally due to her advanced age, until he finally she decided to retire at the beginning of 1970, dying a few years later on April 10, 1976 in Madrid, Spain.

CUSTODIO, Ana María (aka Ana Mª Custodio, Anna Maria Custodio) (Ana María Muñoz Custodio) [3/19/1908, Écija, Sevilla, Andalucía, Spain – 4/10/1976, Madrid, Madrid, Spain] – theater, film actress, sister of writer Álvaro Custodio [1914-1992], married to composer Gustavo Pittaluga (Gustavo Pittaluga González del Campillo) [1906-1975] (1925-1927), married to Ricardo Baeza [1890-1956] (1927-1929). 

Gunfighters of Casa Grande – 1963 (Senora Durano)

Outlaw of Red River – 1964 (Señora Camargo) [as Ana Mª Custodio]

Special Birthdays

 Minja Vojvodic (actor) would have been 80 today but died in 2014.









Giovanni Veronese (director, screenwriter) is 60 today.



Tuesday, August 30, 2022

New Blu-ray, DVD release “Tempo di massacre”

 









“Tempo di massacre”

(The Brute and the Beast)

(1966)

 

Director: Lucio Fulci

Starring: Franco Nero, George Hilton, Nino Castelnuovo

 

Country: Japan

Label: Eizō bunka-sha

DVD, Blu-ray combo

Language: Japanese

Available: August 30, 2022

 

Spaghetti Western English Speaking Voice Actors ~ Lloyd Battista

 

Lloyd McAteer Battista was born May 14, 1937 in Cleveland, Ohio. Battista studied acting at the Carnegie Institute of Technology. He was active on Broadway and off-Broadway stages, appearing in productions of plays such as “Sexual Perversity” in Chicago and “The Homecoming”. His television roles ranged from the CBS soap opera ‘Love of Life’ in the 1950s and the mini-series James A. Michener's ‘Texas’ in 1994. He appeared in movies such as “Chisum” (1970), “Love and Death” (1975), and “In Hell” (2003).

As we all know Lloyd appeared in several Spaghetti Westerns with Tony Anthony that he wrote the screenplays for. Battista wrote the screenplay for Anthony's “Treasure of the Four Crowns” but did not appear in the film.

On the radio, Battista was heard between 1974 and 1982 on the ‘CBS Radio Mystery Theater’. He also wrote The Nose Knows, a guide to Los Angeles area restaurants.

BATTISTA, Lloyd (aka Lloyd Batista, Llyod Batista) (Lloyd McAteer Battista) [5/14/1937, Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.A. –     ] - screenwriter, theater, film, radio, TV, voice actor, poet, author, married to Monica G Maharam [1939-    ] father of Laura Battista [198?-    ].

Lloyd Battista’s Euro-western dubbing:

For a Few Dollars More – 1965 [English voice of Luigi Pistilli, José Marco]

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly – 1966 [English voice of Luigi Pistilli]

God Forgives... I Don't! – 1967 [English voice of Terence Hill]

Ace High – 1968 [English voice of Terence Hill]

The Silent Stranger – 1968 [himself]

Boot Hill – 1969 [English voice of Terence Hill]

Blindman – 1971 [himself

Get Mean – 1975 [himself]

Comin’ At Ya! – 1981

The New Zorro (TV) – 1990 [himself]

50th anniversary of “The Return of Halleluja”


 A gunman named Hallelujah (George Hilton) accepts, for a reasonable compensation, to provide the revolutionary general Ramirez (Roberto Camardiel) an Aztec idol, known as "El Niño", the possession of which will attain for him the support of the Indians in the fight against Maximilian and General Miranda (Renato Baldini). The statue, stolen by a thief, Flora (Agata Flori), and her accomplice, the Scotsman Archie (Lincoln Tate), who, ignoring the value and significance, have used it to hide precious jewels in. However, the idol has ended up in the hands of two peons, who have sold it to a pawn shop. Hallelujah is able to retrieve the idol, and then sells it, to a businessman rather than Ramirez. Ferguson is interested in selling it in exchange for significant business benefits to General Miranda. After receiving it, in turn, from the leader of the Indians he realizes that the statue is a fake. Hallelujah, in reality still holds the real one. He then has to deal with Miranda’s henchmen, Ferguson (Umberto D’Orsi), Flora and Archie. He plays one against the other and eventually brings the idol to Ramirez.

 

Il West ti va stretto, amico... è arrivato Alleluja – Italian title

Alléluia défie l'Ouest – French title

Le far west est trop petit pour toi, mon ami: Alleluja est arrive – French title

Beichtet, Freunde, Halleluja kommt – German title

El West es estrevho para ti, amigo! Ha llegado Alleluja – Filipino title

Alleluja zise ki ase tous allous na fonazoun – Greek title

O Regresso de Aleluia – Portuguese title

Bati sana dar gelecek arkadas – Turkish title

The West is Tough, Amigo… Alleuja’s Here – English title

The West is Very Close, Amigo – English title

Deep West – English title

The Return of Hallelujah – English title

 

A 1972 Italian, French, German co-production [Colosseo Artistica (Rome), France Cinema Productions (Paris), Hermes Synchron (Berlin)]

Producer: Dario Sabatello

Director: Anthony Ascott (Giuliano Carnimeo)

Story: Giovanni Simonelli

Screenplay: Tito Carpi, Ingo Hermes, Giovanni Simonelli

Cinematography: Stelvio Massi [Eastmancolor, Cinemascope]

Music: Stelvio Cipriani

Running time: 100 minutes

 

Cast:

Johnny la Faine/Alleluja/Hallelujah – George Hilton

Archie – Lincoln Tate

Fleurette/Flora – Agata Flori

Sam – Raymond Bussières

Zagaya – Riccardo Garrone

Priest – Aldo Barberito

General Ramirez – Roberto Camardiel

Abel – Giovanni Pazzafini

Drake – Paolo Gozlino

Ferguson – Umberto D’Orsi

General Niranda – Renato Baldini

Ferguson henchman – Paolo Magalotti

Schultz – Peter Berling

Austrian – Adriana Faccheti

Cain – Lars Bloch

Mara/Mary – Mara Krupp

Sheriff with fishes – Fortunato Arena

Laredo deputy – Gianni Pulone

Sheriff – Luigi Antonio Guerra

Sheriff of Laredo – Goffredo Ungar

Claude – Claudio Ruffini

Bartender – Attilio Dottesio

Ferguson’s partner – Nando Sarlo

Tom Ferguson – Alfred Thomas

Ferguson henchman – Sergio Ukmar, Aldo Cecconi, Giulio Mauroni

Lt. Von Steffen – Michael Hinz

Indian chief – Pasquale Fasciano

Lieutenant Von Steffen – Michael Hinz

Stagecoach passenger – Adriana Faccheti 

Church camp women – Margherita Horowitz, Maria de Sisti

Nuts/Nutcraker – Pietro Torrisi

Undertakers – Vincenzo De Palo, Salvatori Billa

Ramirez soldier - Augusto Funari

Austrian Soldiers – Calogero Azzaretto, Renzo Pevarello, Salvatore Billa, Roberto

     Dell’Acqua, Clemente Ukmar, Raniero Dorascenzi, Maurizio Streccioni, Silvio Klein,

     Giglio Gigli, Michele Branca, Rinaldo Zamperla, Roberto Dell’Acqua, Giancarlo

     Ukmar

Grizzly/Drake henchmen – Aldo Pedinotti, Oscar Giustini, Antonio Basile, Sisto Brunetti, Sergio Testori, Sergio Smacchi

Townswoman – Eleonore Morana

With: Martial Bresson, Antonio Guerra, Pasquale Pasciano, Annemarie Schüler



Special Birthdays

 Don McManus (actor) would have been 90 today but died in 2020.









Jan Kruyk (actor) would have been 85 today but died in 2017.







Charles Southwood (actor) would have been 85 today but died in 2009.



Monday, August 29, 2022

New Short Western Film “Cemiterio Vermelho”

 

Cemiterio Vermelho

 

Cemiterio Vermelho – Portuguese title

They Call It… Red Cemetery – English translated title

 

A 2021 Norwegian, Portuguese film co-production [BRO Cinema, Cactus Sessões (Lisbon)]

Producer: Francisco Lacerda, Tomás Ornelas, Luis Banrezes, Luís Campos, Guilherme Daniel,

     Matthias Fritsche, Fredrik S. Hana, Mário Patrocínio

Director: Francisco Lacerda

Story: Francisco Lacerda

Screenplay: Francisco Lacerda

Cinematography: Amarino França [color]

Music: Antoni Maiovvi

Running time: 10 minutes

 

Cast:

Thomas Aske Berg, Francisco Afonso Lopes


Among the crosses of an old cemetery, two outlaws have a dispute over honor, companionship and greed over a fistful of gold coins.



European Western Comics - Albi del Secolo

 








Albi del Secolo

(Characters of the Century)

A comic book series collection that presents stories of various kinds, from the western to the detective story, usually polished by other editions (from the comic books of Atlas or Charlton to the tables of Annibale Casabianca) especially by Massimo Liorni (Lima) and other anonymous authors who signed their stories like Al-Gio or Chapal. From #4 (July 10,1962) to #10 (December 20, 1962) also publishes Johnny Azzardo JOHNNY (Johnny Hazard) by Frank Robbins. From #22 (November 13, 1963) the graphics on the cover changes: the drawn header disappears and is written in typeface and the title of the opening episode is emphasized. From #26 (February 28, 1964) the series continues by expanding the format and publishing Pantera Blonde with double numbering (26 = 1).

The series was published in 1962 by Giusepp Vita Publishing in Rome, Italy from #1 on May 25, 1962 to #25 on December 28, 1963. Each issue contained 64 black and white pages with color covers.

Titles

01 (25.05.62) -

02 (00.00.62) -

03 (00.06.62) - "Il tomahawk maledetto" (The Cursed Tomahawk)

04 (10.07.62) - "L'uomo senza nome" (The Man With No Name)

05 (25.07.62) - "Agguato all'alba" (Ambush at Dawn)

06 (10.08.62) - "Arrivano i Comancheros" (The Comancheros are Coming)

07 (20.09.62) - "L'eroe del West" (The Hero of the West)

08 (00.10.62) - "Il pistolero del Nevada" (The Nevada Gunslinger)

09 (05.10.62) - "Missione tragica" (Tragic Mission)

10 (20.12.62) - "Morte ai dannati" (Death to the Damned)

11 (00.00.00) -

12 (00.00.63) -

13 (00.00.63) -

14 (00.00.63) -

15 (00.00.63) -

16 (00.04.63) - "Toledo Kid" (Kid Toledo)

17 (00.00.63) -

18 (10.08.63) - "Calumet Nero" (Calumet Black)

19 (25.08.63) - "I vulnerabili" (The Vulnerabe)

20 (10.09.63) - "Rick il fuorilegge" (Rick the Outlaw)

21 (00.00.63) -

22 (13.11.63) - "Attacco indiano" (Indian Attack)

23 (28.11.63) - "La prateria del mistero" (The Mysterious Prairie)

24 (13.12.63) - "La guerra dei Sioux" (The Sioux War)

25 (28.12.63) - "Vendetta indiana" (Indian Revenge)

Special Birthdays

 Barry Sullivan (actor) would have been 110 today but died in 1994.



Sunday, August 28, 2022

FILL YA BOOTS Three-quarters of Brits say they’d give up their normal job to become a COWBOY instead


The Sun

By Ethan Singh

August 18, 2022


NEARLY three-quarters of Brits have said they would give up their normal job tomorrow to be a cowboy, a survey has found.

The study into Brits’ attitudes into modern Western living was commissioned by Paramount+ to celebrate season 4 of the critically acclaimed series Yellowstone.

And it found that a whopping 73 per cent of adults said they would ditch their 9-5 life to be a cowboy or cowgirl in the US.

The current cost of living crisis in the UK has also left 50 per cent of 2,000 adults polled more likely to dream of leaving the country for a simpler, homestead life.

29 per cent of responders said they would happily swap their lives in Britain for life on a ranch.

It also emerged 30 per cent are so enamoured with the idea of cowboy life, they want to go on a ranching holiday, and 50 per cent enjoy watching western movies and TV shows.

When it comes to what attracts people to life on a ranch, 34 per cent equate the cowboy look - hat, boots, checked shirt and jeans - with the cowboy lifestyle over any other aspect of ranch life.

While 26 per cent named the most appealing aspect of ranch life as the great outdoors, plumping for the fresh air and wide-open spaces above a large ranch house or life on the land.

The study, carried out via OnePoll, also revealed the top 10 phrases from cowboy culture Brits use in everyday life, with "howdy" at the top of the list.

"Howdy partner", "make hay while the sun shines", "peckish" and "yellow belly" completed the top five.

Set in Montana, Yellowstone chronicles the Dutton family, led by patriarch John Dutton - played by Kevin Costner - who controls the largest contiguous cattle ranch in America.

Amid shifting alliances, unsolved murders, open wounds, and hard-earned respect – the ranch is in constant conflict with those it borders – an expanding town, an Indian reservation, and the United States' first national park.

Spaghetti Western Locations ~ “The Mercenary”

 We continue our search for film locations for “The Mercenary”. The men of Paco celebrate the liberation of the town and another victory. Paco is drunk and tries to make advances on Columba but she rebukes him but a whore welcomes his company. Paco asks if she’s a thinking woman and she says maybe. He tells her lets think about the same thing together and accompanies her to her bedroom.

This was filmed in Polopos, Spain.


For a more detailed view of this site and other Spaghetti Western locations please visit my friend Yoshi Yasuda’s location site: http://y-yasuda.net/film-location.htm and Captain Douglas Film Locations http://www.western-locations-spain.com/

 

Special Birthdays

 Umberto Mozzato (actor) would have been 130 today but died in 1947.









Albert Ray (actor) would have been 125 today but died in 1944.









Aroldo Tieri (actor) would have been 105 today but died in 2006.









Claudio Brook (actor) would have been 95 today but died in 1995.



Saturday, August 27, 2022

Spaghetti Western Podcast Season 4, Episode #12, #97.

 Join me today at noon PST for Season 4, episode #11, #97 of the “Spaghetti Westerns Podcast. We’ll discuss “Apache Fury”. Whatever became of the great Spanish character actor Roberto Camardiel. Who are those guys? Mariano Vidal Molina. Our film of the week is “Keoma”, and we’ll have an autograph, book and CD of the week and we’ll wrap things up with a lot of The Weekly News. See you at High Noon.



New Book Release Bloody and Western Cinema Sam Peckinpah

 

Bloody and Western Cinema Sam Peckinpah

Author: Stefano Jacurti

 

Country: Italy

Publisher: EMIL

Pages: 240

ISBN-10: 8866804371

ISBN-13: 978-8866804376

Released July 8, 2022

 

Stefano Jacurti, actor and writer with directing experience in indie cinema and theater, engages in a book dedicated to a great director of memorable westerns such as The Wild Bunch: Sam Peckinpah. The book is a journey between the weaknesses of a man and the strength of a director of unforgettable films such as “Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid” with the participation of Bob Dylan who is joined by the disturbing “Straw Dosg”, the gloomy “Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia”, the road movie of a fantastic couple in “Getaway”, the bankrupt Sierra Charriba that became legend and other films that were often against the tide. Jacurti draws readers into the parable of an uncomfortable director and his fight against the Hollywood producers, a precursor who paved the way for the idea of ​​an independent cinema. Unforgettable sequences and actors entered the collective imagination, including what could have been and was not with Fellini, Leone and Peckinpah sitting at the same table, make the book a volcanic journey that saw "bloody" Sam shooting absolute masterpieces despite the excesses of a life like Steve McQueen. Foreword by Orietta Cicchinelli, journalist, writer, co-founder of the newspaper - Metro Italia

Who Are Those Singers & Musicians ~ Jan Daley

 

Born Janien B. Daley in 1945, she’s a native of Inglewood, California, Daley took piano and singing lessons and began performing in musicals as a child. As a young adult in the '60s, she was crowned Miss California. The exposure led to starring roles in stage musicals like “Oklahoma”, “Anything Goes”, and “Carousel”, and guest spots on late-night and TV variety shows, including ‘The Joey Bishop Show’ and ‘The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson’. She opened on tour for several legendary comedians, among them George Burns, Rodney Dangerfield, Don Rickles, and Bob Hope. Daley went on to accompany Hope on tour, performing to audiences around the world, including U.S. troops in Vietnam, with the Bob Hope Christmas Tour. In 1970, her recording of Riz Ortolani and Arthur Hamilton’s "Til Love Touches Your Life" from the film Madron was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Song.

Daley continued to perform professionally after starting a family, appearing in stage productions in places like Branson, Las Vegas, and Europe, in addition to the Los Angeles area, as well as in dozens of TV commercials. Her original song "Eat Your Heart Out" was featured in the 1997 independent film “The Ride”. In 2003, Daley was asked by the family to sing "Thanks for the Memory" at Bob Hope’s funeral service. She subsequently recorded the tribute album ‘Where There's Hope’ with Les Brown, Jr.'s Band of Renown. Subtitled ‘A Tribute to the Love Songs from Bob Hope’s Legacy’, it was released by Encore Music in 2009.

Daley then released two devotional albums, 2010's ‘His Light’ and 2012's ‘Live’. Also in 2012, she issued her first Christmas album, ‘There's Nothing Like Christmas’. The five-track EP ‘When Sunny Gets Blue’, a collection of standards, followed on LOG Records in October 2016. Six months later, she expanded the EP, adding six original songs for ‘The Way of a Woman’. It reached number two on the Billboard Jazz Albums chart.

DALEY, Jan (Janien B. Daley) [3/?/1945, Inglewood, California, U.S.A. -     ] – actress, songwriter, singer, married to Kenneth Lee Braskamp [1943-    ] (1974-2005) mother of Aubrey Janien Braskamp [1976-    ], Miss Glendale [196?], Miss California [196?], CEO of L.O.G. Records

Madron – 1970 [sings: “Till Love Touches Your Life”]

Special Birthdays

 Solveig Andersson (actress) is 75 today.









Marco Tulio Barboni (screenwriter, actor) is 70 today.



Friday, August 26, 2022

Spaghetti Western Trivia ‘Riata’ revised.


 Original Deadly Trackers (working title “Riata”, began filming in Spain and shot for two weeks in November 1972. Harris and Fuller didn't get along so Warner Brothers pulled the plug and started looking for a new director. It took them six months to relocate to Mexico and start over with Barry Shear.

Bo Hopkins' couldn't wait and his next western was The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing (June 1973)

 

WB to Resume Filming ‘Riata’ In Mexico; Takes Cinemobile As Partner

Warner Bros. which last fall halted shooting of Samuel Fuller’s “Riata” film project, has taken on Cinemobile Film Guarantors as a partner is resuming production and guaranteeing completion. When a mutually acceptable director to replace Fuller is set (possibly Barry Shear), the project will resume in Mexico. Also gone from the pic is co-star Alfonso Arau. WB will release the completed film.

In Mexico City late last week a spokeman for Cinemobile there said that Fouad Said (Cinemobile head) had spent a few days talking with National Film Bank director Rodolfo Echerverria and Churobusco Studios general manager Alejhandro Oretega Senvicente and arranged a co-production. Said alos had presented the screenplay to the Motion Picture Bureau for its approval.

About one-third of the film has been shot by Fuller, but most of it is likely to be scrapped. Ralph Serpe will produce the film. Richard Harris, Leslie Caron and Bo Hopkins head the cast. Filming may resume March 15.

 

[submitted by Mike Ferguson]