Rob Price
Gutbrain Records
rob + gutbrain.com = email

2010 March 10 • Wednesday

Bloodbuster seems to be a really cool shop in Milan. At least their website has a Milan street address. They also publish some interesting movie books under the banner of Bloodbuster Edizioni: Tutto il cinema dalla B alla Zeta! I guess that means everything cinema from B to Z.

The latest Bloodbuster book, following the intriguing Contaminations: Guida al fantacinema italiano anni 80 (a guide to fantastic Italian movies from the '80s) and Cinici, Infami e Violenti: Guida ai film polizieschi italiani anni '70 (a guide to Italian crime movies from the '70s) is Segretissimi: Guida agli spy-movie italiani anni '60 (a guide to Italian spy movies from the '60s).

The book is in Italian only, but I bought it anyway. With a dictionary I can probably get a rough idea of many of the movie plots.

"C'è una banda di trafficanti di LSD da sgominare. Ci pensa l'agente segreto Rex Miller. Fine." That makes a certain amount of sense.

There are lots of illustrations in the books, movie posters and stills, all in black and white, probably to keep costs down. Segretissimi is limited to 500 copies, hand numbered.

The book begins with a quote from a song by Italian singer/songwriter Paolo Benvegnù: "L'uomo prega Dio ma preferisce Giuda...", which I think translates as "man prays to God but prefers Judas...".

Emma Peel makes an early appearance in the book, which is surely a good sign.

There are spreads on different series of films and a rogues' gallery of actors.

Klaus Kinski is there, all the way on the right, in the middle of the column. Here he is again.

Most of the book presents synopses of the films with reproductions of movie posters and a few stills.

Matchless has a great Ennio Morricone score.

The pictures look better in the book than they do here. These are from lazy snapshots I took with my camera. When I look at the text, Italian seems to be a pretty inviting language. "L'agente segreto americano Kurt Jackson è inviato a Singapore…" seems pretty clear to me.

Books that focus on just one particular shadowy corner of pop culture are a favorite of mine. I'm very pleased to have Segretissimi on my shelf! (My copy came from Screen Archives Entertainment.)