Movies

Tarkan vs. the Vikings (1971) Turkish movies seem to be popular among badfilm nuts these days so I thought I should see a few. Based on a popular Turkish comic book character, this presents a very imaginative (i.e. absurd) view of Viking life and culture. Primitive in concept and technique, meant to provide cheap thrills only. Good giant octopus though. I saw a short documentary on the Turkish pop film industry of the '60s and '70s and it seems to me that its failure was in catering to the lowest common denominator consistently and exclusively, without attempting to improve the product or the audience. It was doomed to eventual failure because it was content to crank out nothing but cheap crap like this, and lacked a visionary producer or director who strove for something higher. 2/10

10 Rillington Place (1971) could not be more different. A calm, methodical, meticulously accurate depiction of the criminal life of British serial murderer John Christie. Richard Attenborough, Judy Geeson and John Hurt star, and locations were filmed on the actual site shortly before it was obliterated from the face of the earth. Extremely well-produced, perhaps its only weakness being the emotional distance it maintains, which left me entirely unmoved even by the terrible situation of Hurt's pathetic character Timothy Evans, hanged for Christie's murder of Evans' wife and child. Maybe director Richard Fleischer was too versatile to make this as strong a film as it might have been. It left me thinking, "Now I know about that," and nothing more. 6/10 for historical accuracy and general viewability.