blood and roses (1960)

aka Et mourir de plaisir.
"My name is Millarca. I lived in the past, I live now."
Carmilla Von Karnstein (Annette Vadim) becomes obsessed by a distant ancestor, who was considered to be a vampire. So much so she becomes possessed by Millarca's spirit. But is it all in her mind, or is she really under the spell of her vampire relative?
An intelligent take on Sheridan Le Fanu's tale, updated to the modern day. A gentle, surreal and dream like horror, where unrequited love spans the generations. Though I enjoyed this version, I would love to compare it to the European print, which leaves the viewer to make up their own mind as to whether Vampires exist. The American version being narrated by a Vampire leaves one in little doubt.

and god created woman (1956)

AKA Et Dieu... créa la femme.
"Ah! The Garden of Eden in Saint-Tropez!"
Juliete Hardy (Brigitte Bardot) is an eighteen year old orphan in St Tropez, who causes scandal with her free ways. She attracts the attention of the wealthy Eric Carradine (Curd Jürgens), but she prefers Antoine Tardieu (Christian Marquand), who owns a rundown shipyard. Unfortunately he isn't interested in more than a one nightstand before leaving St Tropez. Things come to a head when her guardians decide to send her back to the orphanage due to scandal she is attracting. Antoine's brother Michel (Jean-Louis Trintignant) comes to her rescue and proposes; a proposal she is happy to accept. Their happy marriage then hits a snag when the Tardieu's decides to sell the shipyard and Antoine returns to manage it. Seeing him again re-ignited Juliete's desire for him; a desire that will only end in tragedy.
The film that brought Bardot to the attention of the western world, which looks quaint now, but caused many pulses to race at the time. Basically its an excuse to show her in various states of undress and causing mayhem and lust wherever she went.

barbarella (1968)

aka Barbarella: Queen of the Galaxy.
Barbarella, a 41st century government agent, is given the task of finding the missing scientist Durand Durand (Milo O'Shea), who is believed to be in Sogo, the city of night. There she finds danger, and the evil great tyrant, a lesbian queen (Anita Pallenberg). She manages to hook up with the resistance movement lead by Dildano (David Hemmings), rescues an Angel (John Philip Law) and finds real love.
Based on the popular French comic strip, this is definitely a hip and happening 60's version of our spacey future. Beautifully filmed, on enormous, exotic sets, this is a scatty, episodic and extremely silly adventure with actors from many nations giving some very quixotic performances. One you either go with and love or dismiss out of hand as all style and no substance, which is true, but I still cant help but like it!