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Five Dolls For An August Moon
''Five Dolls for an August Moon'' () is a 1970 Italian ''giallo'' film directed by Mario Bava. It concerns a group of people who have gathered on a remote island for fun and relaxation. One of the guests is a chemist who has created a revolutionary new chemical process, and several of the attending industrialists are eager to buy it from him. Business problems become moot when someone begins killing off the attendees one by one. Plot At the private island retreat of wealthy industrialist George Stark, a group of people have assembled for a weekend getaway; among the guests is scientist Professor Gerry Farrell. The first night passes uneventfully, but Farrell is enraged the next morning to discover that Stark and the other guests planned the weekend to coerce him to sell his latest invention: a formula for a revolutionary industrial resin, which he is reluctant to divulge due to his colleague's death during its invention. Farrell's wife, Trudy, is having an affair with Stark's ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mario Bava
Mario Bava (; 31 July 1914 – 27 April 1980) was an Italian filmmaker who worked variously as a director, cinematographer, special effects artist and screenwriter. His low-budget genre films, known for their distinctive visual flair and stylish technical ingenuity, feature recurring themes and imagery concerning the conflict between illusion and reality, as well as the destructive capacity of human nature. Widely regarded as a pioneer of Italian genre cinema and one of the most influential Auteur, auteurs of the Horror film, horror film genre, he is popularly referred to as the "Master of Italian Horror" and the "Master of the Macabre". After providing special effects work and other assistance on such productions as ''I Vampiri'' (1957), ''Hercules (1958 film), Hercules'' (1958) and ''Caltiki – The Immortal Monster'' (1959), Bava made his official feature directorial debut with the gothic horror film ''Black Sunday (1960 film), Black Sunday'', released in 1960. He went on to d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Truth Serum
"Truth serum" is a colloquial name for any of a range of psychoactive drugs used in an effort to obtain information from subjects who are unable or unwilling to provide it otherwise. These include ethanol, scopolamine, 3-quinuclidinyl benzilate, midazolam, flunitrazepam, sodium thiopental, and amobarbital, among others. Although a variety of such substances have been tested, serious issues have been raised about their use scientifically, ethically and legally. There is currently no drug proven to cause consistent or predictable enhancement of truth-telling. Subjects questioned under the influence of such substances have been found to be suggestible and their memories subject to reconstruction and fabrication. While such drugs have been used in the course of investigating civil and criminal cases, they have not been accepted by Western legal systems and legal experts as genuine investigative tools. In the United States, it has been suggested that their use is a potential violati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Valentine's Day
Valentine's Day, also called Saint Valentine's Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, is celebrated annually on February 14. It originated as a Christian feast day honoring a Christian martyrs, martyr named Saint Valentine, Valentine, and through later folk traditions it has also become a significant cultural, religious and commercial celebration of Romance (love), romance and love in many regions of the world. There are a number of martyrdom stories associated with various Saint Valentines connected to February 14, including an account of the imprisonment of Saint Valentine of Rome for ministering to Christians Persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire, persecuted under the Roman Empire in the third century. According to an early tradition, Saint Valentine restored sight to the blind daughter of his jailer. Numerous later additions to the legend have better related it to the theme of love: tradition maintains that Saint Valentine performed weddings for Christian soldie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Torre Astura
260px, The medieval coastal Tower of the Frangipani. Torre Astura, formerly an island called by the ancients merely Astura (Greek: ), is now a peninsula in the ''comune'' of Nettuno, on the coast of Latium, Italy, at the southeast extremity of the Bay of Antium, on the road to Circeii. The name also belongs to a medieval coastal tower in the same site, as well as to the river which rises at the southern foot of the Alban Hills, and has a course of about 33 km before flowing into the sea immediately to the southeast. It was called Storas () by Strabo, who tells us that it had a place of anchorage at its mouth. It was on the banks of this obscure stream that was fought, in 338 BC, the last great battle between the Romans and the Latins, in which the consul Gaius Maenius totally defeated the combined forces of Antium, Lanuvium, Aricia and Velitrae. At a much later period the little island at its mouth, and the whole adjacent coast, became occupied with Roman villas; among whi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Matte Painting
A matte painting is a painted representation of a landscape, set, or distant location that allows filmmakers to create the illusion of an environment that is not present at the filming location. Historically, matte painters and film technicians have used various techniques to combine a matte-painted image with live-action footage (compositing). At its best, depending on the skill levels of the artists and technicians, the effect is seamless and creates environments that would otherwise be impossible or expensive to film. In the scenes, the painting part is static while movements are integrated on it. Background Traditionally, matte paintings were made by artists using paints or pastels on large sheets of glass for integrating with the live-action footage. The first known matte painting shot was made in 1907 by Norman Dawn (ASC), who improvised the crumbling California Missions by painting them on glass for the movie ''Missions of California''. Notable traditional matte-pa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Headstone
A gravestone or tombstone is a marker, usually stone, that is placed over a grave. A marker set at the head of the grave may be called a headstone. An especially old or elaborate stone slab may be called a funeral stele, stela, or slab. The use of such markers is traditional for Chinese, Jewish, Christian, and Islamic burials, as well as other traditions. In East Asia, the tomb's spirit tablet is the focus for ancestral veneration and may be removable for greater protection between rituals. Ancient grave markers typically incorporated funerary art, especially details in stone relief. With greater literacy, more markers began to include inscriptions of the deceased's name, date of birth, and date of death, often along with a personal message or prayer. The presence of a frame for photographs of the deceased is also increasingly common. Use The stele (plural: stelae), as it is called in an archaeological context, is one of the oldest forms of funerary art. Originally, a t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polythene Bag
Polyethylene or polythene (abbreviated PE; IUPAC name polyethene or poly(methylene)) is the most commonly produced plastic. It is a polymer, primarily used for packaging (plastic bags, plastic films, geomembranes and containers including bottles, cups, jars, etc.). , over 100 million tonnes of polyethylene resins are being produced annually, accounting for 34% of the total plastics market. Many kinds of polyethylene are known, with most having the chemical formula (C2H4)''n''. PE is usually a mixture of similar polymers of ethylene, with various values of ''n''. It can be ''low-density'' or ''high-density'' and many variations thereof. Its properties can be modified further by crosslinking or copolymerization. All forms are nontoxic as well as chemically resilient, contributing to polyethylene's popularity as a multi-use plastic. However, polyethylene's chemical resilience also makes it a long-lived and decomposition-resistant pollutant when disposed of improperly. Being a h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
And Then There Were None
''And Then There Were None'' is a mystery fiction, mystery novel by the English writer Agatha Christie, who described it as the most difficult of her books to write. It was first published in the United Kingdom by the Collins Crime Club on 6 November 1939, as ''Ten Little Niggers'', after an 1869 Minstrel show, minstrel song that serves as a major plot element. The US edition was released in January 1940 with the title ''And Then There Were None'', taken from the last five words of the song. Successive American reprints and adaptations use that title, though American Pocket Books paperbacks used the title ''Ten Little Indians'' between 1964 and 1986. UK editions continued to use the original title until 1985. The book is the world's best-selling mystery, and with over 100 million copies sold is one of the List of best-selling books, best-selling books of all time. The novel has been listed as the seventh best-selling title (any language, including reference works) of all time. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Agatha Christie
Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English people, English author known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fictional detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. She also wrote the world's longest-running play, the murder mystery ''The Mousetrap'', which has been performed in the West End theatre, West End of London since 1952. A writer during the "Golden Age of Detective Fiction", Christie has been called the "Queen of Crime"—a nickname now trademarked by her estate—or the "Queen of Mystery". She also wrote six novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott. In 1971, she was made a Dame (DBE) by Queen Elizabeth II for her contributions to literature. She is the best-selling fiction writer of all time, her novels having sold more than two billion copies. Christie was born into a wealthy upper-middle-class family in Torquay, Devon, and was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Guido Malatesta
Guido Malatesta (1919 – 14 June 1970), born in Gallarate, Italy, was a film director and screenwriter. He began working as a professional journalist. After he moved to Rome, he was drawn to cinema, as creator of treatments, then scriptwriter and assistant director, and finally becoming director in 1957 with the film ''The Billionaires''. He continued to make films until a few days before his death in 1970. He was known for his Peplum film genre, Peplum movies and having a simple fun style without being overdone by plot. His most popular of the present remains ''Colossus and the Headhunters'' and ''Fire Monsters Against the Son of Hercules''. The former is notable for having no monsters which went against the tradition of the sword and sandal genre as well as being the subject of a 1994 episode of the popular movie-mocking television show ''Mystery Science Theater 3000''. He wrote the story and screenplay of ''Devil of the Desert Against the Son of Hercules''. In the sixties, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tim Lucas
Timothy Ray Lucas (born May 30, 1956) is an American film critic, biographer, novelist, screenwriter and blogger, best known for publishing and editing the video review magazine ''Video Watchdog''. Biography and early career Lucas, born in Cincinnati, Ohio, was the only child of Marion Frank Lucas, a typesetter and musician, and the former Juanita Grace Wilson; his father died six months prior to his birth, on November 14, 1955, of a congenital heart ailment at age 33. Tim Lucas subsequently spent most of his childhood in the homes of various relatives and caregivers, seeing his widowed mother only on weekends, when she took him to drive-in theaters. After publishing single issues of two fanzines, he became a film critic and cartoonist for Norwood High School's newspaper ''The Mirror''. He began writing professionally in 1972 when he became a regular reviewer and correspondent for the influential fantasy film magazine ''Cinefantastique''. He wrote for the magazine for 11 years. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Princess Ira Von Fürstenberg
Princess is a title used by a female member of a regnant monarch's family or by a female ruler of a principality. The male equivalent is a prince (from Latin ''princeps'', meaning principal citizen). Most often, the term has been used for the consort of a prince, or for the daughter of a monarch. A crown princess can be the heir apparent to the throne or the spouse of the heir apparent. Princess as a substantive title Some princesses are reigning monarchs of principalities. There have been fewer instances of reigning princesses than reigning princes, as most principalities excluded women from inheriting the throne. An example of a princess regnant is Constance of Antioch, princess regnant of Antioch in the 12th century. Since the president of France, an office for which women are eligible, is ''ex-officio'' a co-prince of Andorra, then Andorra could theoretically be jointly ruled by a princess. Princess as a courtesy title Descendants of monarchs For many centuries, the t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
