The Age of Ignorance

Recently I went to the movies to see some fifties flick. The glorious permanent swigging and non-stop-smoking of its big-butted protagonists soon did its best to put me in a state of deep envy & moral crisis. Thus it was somehow predetermined to get soaked afterwards in the movie bar nearby. Before the end titles were finished I was in-between a happily chatting cinephile crowd of movie afficionados, happily intoxicating myself and happily rating movies I have never seen - Some established classics included !

'What's the best scene in Fitzcarraldo ?'
'The steamboat down the rapids, of course' (Though I've never seen it)

Taking this into account I thought of providing our dear & lovely dexx audience with a very special list of Ten Great Film I Haven't Seen (Though would highly recommend) * But after many painful hours of scanning my mental movie database, I now have reconsidered the original approach and finally narrowed it down to:

Some Mod Movies highly recommended without having seen Any of them

Here we go:

The Boy Friend UK, 1969
D. Ken Russell

This for sure is not a classical must-see, but despite his controversial reputation Sir Ken Russell is one of my favourite directors and I deeply admire his metaphoric-laden visual style as well as his sometimes aggressive bias on all matters sexual. Although I've not the slightest cue what this musical-movie really is about, considering year and place of creation, as well as Twiggy in the leading part sounds rather promising.

The Salzburg Connection USA, 1972
D. Lee Katzin

Starring Anna Karina, also known as Jean-Luc Godards ex-wife in her years of decline, this movie tells the story of an American lawyer going to Salzburg on holiday. Before he's able to figure anything out, he ends up hopelessly entangled in an international web of auto chases, rival spies, assassins, and neo-Nazis searching for a chest that holds the names of Nazi collaborators and war criminals. The title can't be coincidental - Think of French Connection, same year of creation. Although I wouldn't expect the same perfection, the Austrian topic surely makes it worth watching ! (It is also known to be Klaus Maria Brandauers infamous first screen appearance)


Negatives UK, 1968
D. Peter Medak

Photographic equipment itself has a long standing tradition in film history - Remember Hitchcock's Rear Window or Antonioni's masterpiece Blow Up, remember Austrian super-weirdo Karl-Heinz Böhm as Peeping Tom or Tshelovek s kinoapparatem by Dziga Vertov (Haven't seen that) That's all there's to say about this film: Despite the participation of Oscar-winner and later Labour-party politician Glenda Jackson this top-notch erotic movie has gained almost no reputation at all, so I could not find any useful review to paste here..


Do Not Fold, Spindle Or Mutilate UK, 1971
D. Ted Post

This phrase has been written on every punch-card of the 60's and 70's and together with the punch card served for a long time as a symbol for computer as Cold War doomsday devices, alienation and anxiety about technology in general.
Now just imagine lovely Golden Girls transerred from their Florida Home to a Swinging London setting entangled in a techno-critical crime plot and there you go: When the merry old ladies ("The Snoop Sisters") get hold of a computer dating service, they invent a mythical girl and feed the falsified information into the computer. The real action starts, when a girl matching the fictional description gets killed.
As an early forecast of the internet-era this crime comedy announces social techniques that became everyday practice not until thirty years later. Seems like a must-see for everyone occupied with media theory and cultural history. Watch out!

Some Like It Sexy, UK 1969
D. Donovan Winter

Although it is something impossible even to imagine, this is the movie most probably matching the term 'British sexploitation'. The spectacular rich plot as well as Playboy twins Mary and Madeline Collinson featuring a lesbian couple will soon get you carried away: The story mostly centers on a good-looking young man cruising around Chelsea in his Jaguar "E" type and fornicating several women. In 60's style the sex scene are often cut with brief montages of meat being chopped up in a butcher's shop.... Hmm, that meat thing does sound very British after all but see for yourself !

Tonite Let's All Make Love In London UK, 1967
D. Peter Whitehead

Good idea! This is probably the only real thing to see - The well-known semi-documentary about the swinging sixties in London featuring John&Yoko, Pink and Floyd, Mick Jagger and Vanessa Redgrave, Allen Ginsberg and Michael Caine, Julie Christie and Eric Burdon plus Lee and Marvin. Wish I was there.. Guess I have to leave now and fetch at least the DVD. Thanks for your infinite attention and have fun with the original source of inspiration. See you soon - when time's ripe for Dexx on the Moon..


** Inspired by 'The Age of Ignorance. Ten Great Films I Haven't Seen' by Nev Pierce in 'Ten Bad Dates with DeNiro. A book of alternative movie lists', Faber and Faber 2007