A few fonts and things from WILLY WONKA AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY (1971). I always thought the candy in the film looked so unappetizing. Like jars of painted kidney stones. The chocolate river in the factory seemed filled with baby diarrhea or something, or like the murky stream near a refinery. But anyway—the film is a classic of course, and Gene Wilder is supreme in it: a cordial demon.
Jean Cocteau’s BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (1946).
One of those “Today I Learned” things. The creature Molasar, from 1983 fantasy horror THE KEEP, was designed by French comic book artist, Enki Bilal. (Another HEAVY METAL magazine heavyweight—there is a big tome to be written on the influence of French comic art on Hollywood—Métal hurlant in particular.)
I first learned of the name Enki Bilal in a Dutch book on comic book history. I was 7 or 8. Each name was new to me, each one a world to be explored. Bilal came after Barks—and whenever I looked up Barks, which I did a lot, I came across Bilal, who was featured with one of his illustrations from his 1982 portfolio, DIE MAUER (The Wall) (last image). As a wee kid, I thought the art was weird and off-putting, but intriguing, and I didn’t forget it. A similar concept of people trapped in walls appears in THE KEEP by the way; and Bilal’s influence on the film reaches a bit further even, as he also designed its poster (image 4).
I should also mention that Tangerine Dream did a wonderfully sinister and atmospheric score for THE KEEP: an evocative 80s soundscape.
Toei animated feature, MAGIC BOY (Shōnen Sarutobi Sasuke) (1960).
Behind the scenes of THE SHINING (1980).
Brigitte Bardot on the set of Et Dieu… créa la femme (AND GOD CREATED WOMAN) in 1956. She wore her own clothes in the film, as she did in many of her films in fact. The name of her character in Et Dieu…, Juliette Hardy, isn’t very far removed from her own name. Saint-Tropez, the location of the film, was familiar to her because she would spend summers there with her parents (and she lives there of course). Et Dieu…, basically, is Brigitte Bardot as seen through the eyes of a smitten Roger Vadim: a luscious cinematic love letter.
The film was shot in Saint-Tropez and at the Studios de la Victorine in Nice.
A nameless extra who would go on to become a screen goddess—and win an Academy Award: a very young Sophia Loren (first image, pink dress) in QUO VADIS (1951). (How did they shoot those crowd scenes?)
Droog hat tests for Stanley Kubrick’s A CLOCKWORK ORANGE.
The animated title sequence to A SHOT IN THE DARK (1964), designed by DePatie–Freleng. (The film, featuring Peter Sellers as Clouseau, was the second film in the Pink Panther series.)
Peter Sellers—such a spookily brilliant actor: HOFFMAN, THE BLOCKHOUSE, BEING THERE, Kubrick’s stuff.
British horror anthology, DEAD OF NIGHT (1945).