Dementia 13

Rating:
Summary: mildly suspensful, beginning movie for Coppola and Corman
Review: This movie, written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola, and produced by Roger Corman, features a family who's greedy to get at the fortune of a deranged old woman; who's memories of her dead little girl result in some strange rituals. There's a blonde, one of two, who kills her husband; then, lies to the family, as she angles to get in on the fortune [she doesn't make it]; there's a couple about to get married, one disturbed brother (who turns out is an "ax" murderer). A weird doctor (who may be familiar to anyone who has seen "A Clockwork Orange" [he was the writer who was attacked in his home-Patrick Magee (not Macnee, of the Avengers, no)]. It was a weird, but short movie, 81 mins (which was why it was recorded, on the Alpha Video version I have, at SLP). For 1963, it wasn't bad. And it was a great place to start for Coppola and Corman. The first blond, who gets killed, was Luann Anders; who wasn't bad looking, and I wonder if she ever made any other movies [perhaps, someone reading this could help me out, thanks.] Note: It's Luana, not Luann. It won't let me add a review, so the correction is here.

Rating:
Summary: The kicker on this Corman production--Coppola directs!!!
Review: We put this mystery thriller on the DVD player, and I noticed it was a Roger Corman film. Well, for B or even C flicks, Corman never disappoints. You can count on lots of cheese, bad acting, dropped story threads, and plenty of girls in see-through negligees, bikinis or even their skivvies if the storyline begins to slacken. But ho! What's this! Written..and directed by Francis Coppola? I LAUGHED MYSELF SILLY for at least a minute and a half. I'm not making this up; Coppola directed and wrote this turkey.

The story centers about a family of Irish noblemen, who unaccountably are educated in the US, have American accents and are engaged or married to a set of exchangable blondes. Mummy, back at Castle Halloran, looks Italian but is not. She is, however, mourning the death of her daughter Kathleen, who drowned in pond. Three guesses who did it. This is the mystery.

John, the fat son married to the bitchy blonde, comes home for the "ceremony"--a sad little mummery commemorating the death of Kathleen. His wife is angling to change Mummy's will (which leaves everything to the Cartholic Church in the name of the dear departed Karthleen) and somehow, John ends not doing too well in wifey's schemes. Don't worry I am giving anything away, as this thread of the story peters out completely midway through the film and is never heard from again.

The other brothers mope at home. Richard, the mad sculptor in metal, only metal, wants to marry the blonde Kane. His other brother is quiet and a homebody. Somehow, despite this being an average quiet castle with only the usual hauntings, a lot of people end up rather dead. Heads roll, and not just at the studio office for making this bomb.

How the film ends and how Coppola rescues his career from this disaster I will leave to you to find out. As I said, it's a mystery.

Rating:
Summary: WHY DOESN'T AMAZON REQUIRE WIDESCREEN OR FULL FRAME FROM....
Review: WHY DOESN'T AMAZON REQUIRE WIDESCREEN OR FULLFRAME FROM SELLERS DESCRIPTIONS! WHY DOESN'T AMAZON SHOW ACTUAL PHOTO OF DVD BOX COVER AS WELL AS THE BACK OF THE BOX WITH ALL THE TECHNICAL INFO; TIME/FORMAT/SOUND ETC. FOR OUR CONVENIENCE? MAYBE THEY NEED A CHANGE IN MANAGEMENT AND I'M THE ANSWER? AMAZON PLEASE EMAIL WITH FISCAL OFFER, YOU WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED!