Required Reading: Cinema Retro #10

For a long time the films of the 1960s and 70s have been the neglected “middle child” of film reporting, sandwiched between the coverage historians continue to give to Hollywood’s Golden Age and the writing done by today’s predominantly internet-based commentators who are clearly influenced by the films they saw growing up in the 1980s and early ’90s. Fortunately, there’s seems to be a raising wave of work looking back at these two decades and the braintrust behind Cinema Retro magazine – Lee Pfeiffer and Dave Worrall – are two of its leaders.

For those already familiar with Cinema Retro, then you should know that latest issue hit newsstands back in January is more of the same. And that’s a good thing, as CinemaRetro features more of the wide-ranging articles, features and interviews the magazine is fast becoming known for. Where else are you going to find coverage of the 2007 Vienna Film Festival’s tribute to the Italian Western alongside a profile of Doris Day or an interview with Elke Summer?

Picking up from its last issue, the new edition features the latest installments in multi-part interviews with the likes of Italian bombshell Luciana Paluzzi and special-effects maestro Ray Harryhausen. The latest part of the magazine’s ongoing interview with actor David McCallum focuses on how his life changed with the fame brought about by his role the wildly popular The Man From UNCLE television series and the steps that studio MGM took to protect his image by re-editing movie that he did for the studio while on hiatus from the tv series’ production.

UNCLE fans are double-served again this month with the second part of the ongoing series examining the films created out of the Man From UNCLE television series. This time, writer Craig Henderson explores how the success of the first UNCLE film – To Trap A Spy, having been an expanded version of the series’ pilot released theatrically in Europe – quickly brought about similar treatment for the series’ two-part episode “The Double Affair,” resulting in the theatrical release The Spy With My Face. And if you’ve wondered why the Man From UNCLE films never actually mentioned UNCLE in their titles, Henderson explains that the success of To Trap A Spy lead studio heads to want the word “spy” in the title for this and the next several of the film series’ subsequent entries. (A pity, as the original name for The Spy With My Face was the attention grabbing One Violent Day In August.)

Rounding out this issue’s contents are interview with British actor Richard Johnson as well as a look at his two “Bulldog” Drummond movies, a tribute to James Bond’s Girl Friday Lois ‘Miss Moneypenny’ Maxwell, a re-examination of the Swingin’ Sixties satire I’ll Never Forget What’s ‘Isname, soundtrack and book reviews and more.

Cinema Retro # 10 is currently on newsstands or can be ordered through the magazine’s website.

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About Rich Drees 7185 Articles
A film fan since he first saw that Rebel Blockade Runner fleeing the massive Imperial Star Destroyer at the tender age of 8 and a veteran freelance journalist with twenty-five years experience writing about film and pop culture. He is a member of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle.
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