IT ANTICS

From the 1975 demonstrational film Finite Elements, made by the Atlas Computer Library with graphic and music by the ANTICS computer system. 

NOW RULE THE APES!

I have a more or less lifelong obsession with the original Planet of the Apes series. As a kid my regular fix of Ape Action was the UK version of the Marvel cash-in comic. Unlike its US counterpart, the UK comic was published weekly, so the British publishers soon ran out of source material and started making up their own stories, some of which were then reused by the Americans when they ran out.

I have many issues of this much-loved (but not particularly good) comic in my possession, so I'm going to share some of the covers with you,  starting with Issue 60, from the week ending December 13th, 1975. There's quite a lot going on with it.

The back cover of the issue is this rather ambiguous exclusive 'pin up' of the great Roddy McDowell. Roddy was a superb and underrated actor and, by all accounts, a  kind and lovely man, but is this the sort of picture anyone, particularly a child, would want hanging over their bed?

No, thought not.

WHERE ARE WE NOW?

Chris Burden: Poem for L.A (1975)

EYE IN THE SKY

A menacing presence in the sky that calls to mind the constant scrutiny of our CCTV monitored existence. It doesn't seem to bother us much, but then humans have always been surprisingly comfortable with the idea that someone in the sky watches everything we do and silently judges it. 

From  Tashio Matsumoto's disquieting 1975 experimental short Phantom.

LUNATIC FRINGE

Wolfguy, d. Kazuhiko Yamaguchi (1975)

Based on a Manga, Wolfguy stars the amazing Sonny Chiba as Wolf, a roving reporter and troubleshooter who is also the only survivor of a clan of wolf people. The details of this are a little confusing as, unlike a common or garden werewolf, he doesn't transform into something hairy and vicious every full moon but instead becomes endowed with super strength and kung fu abilities, as well as the most un-lupin-like ability to leap thirty feet in the air and be shot with a machine gun over and over. 

None of this matters, of course, especially as he is investigating a series of bloody murders committed by a victim of gang rape who is so angry at being infected with syphilis that she is able to project her rage into the form of an avenging tiger. Naturally, a shadowy government department is interested in both of these unusual people, wanting either their compliance or their blood, hoping to use it to create a cohort of unstoppable super assassins.  

Bloody, kinky, full of fighting, jumping and running around, Wolfguy also has a groovy soundtrack. Seriously, what's not to like? 

HER AIM IS TRUE

Pam Grier lines up a shot in Sheba, Baby (1975)

WORKING AT THE CAR WASH

Force of nature Pam Grier gathers information in Sheba, Baby (1975).

THE FLESH AND BLOOD SHOW

Hu-Man, d. Jérôme Laperrousaz (1975)

A group of television executives approach Terence Stamp (playing a po-faced actor called Terence Stamp) with a unique idea for a television show that will blur the lines between entertainment and experimental science. Stamp will be placed in extreme danger and his fear will be transmitted directly to the viewers. The energy of their reactions will be captured and used to power the next phase of the plan, in which Stamp will travel backwards or forwards in time depending on the strength and clarity of their emotions. If he wants to, and if he can retain a positive mental attitude, he may even be able to return. 

It’s not much of a deal on the face of it but fictional Stamp, dealing with the recent suicide of his wife, readily accepts (the real Stamp was in an Indian ashram at this point, decompressing after a very busy sixties, and his onscreen counterpart,  with his pony tail and tai chi exercises, seems on a similar quest). What follows are some extraordinary scenes filmed on the very edges of the natural world, the wild places where man has no place or purpose other than to die: Stamp caught by the incoming tides at Mont St Michel, running back and forth until he stands on a tiny patch of land as the sea quickly engulfs him; hanging precariously out of a helicopter as it flies high over an arctic landscape; waking up at the edge of an active volcano, a lake of seething, spitting lava mere feet away. These set pieces, accompanied by electronic music and Stamp's enigmatic facial expressions are among the most amazing things I've seen on screen.

Hu-Man is both profound and off-hand, and the so called science that underpins it is as much magic as method (the time travel energy is apparently stored in a massive plastic bag). Never mind, it’s the mid-seventies, where good vibes are just as important as good wiring. 

WHAT POSSESSED YOU?

La Papesse, d. Mario Mercier (1975)

A beautifully composed film full of vibrant colour and some genuine looking arcane ritual, 'A Woman Possessed' (UK title) is about a man who wants to join a hippy witch cult so much that he ends up sacrificing his wife to achieve his goal. The poor woman is kidnapped, tortured, raped, made to eat cream cakes and pig swill and drink urine, gets shut up in a cave with some sex-mad elementals and then goes mad and has her throat torn out by a black labrador. 

It may sound awful but it's actually nowhere near as cruel and explicit as that synopsis might suggest. In context, it works, with the great psychedelic music and surreal look and feel of the production being the blood red icing on the black magic cake.