Column Chronicles: More of my favorite films

More of my favorite films

Frank Cotolo
April 14, 2016

Through the decades of my storied life in and around show business I have always had an esoteric taste for film. This, of course, attracted me to esoteric films. Though I enjoyed many of the popular movies that have made industry history and I don't disparage any movie based on its lack of depth or artistry, some of my favorite films are abstruse works produced and performed by people outside of the mainstream. Here are a few of my favorites.

Times Versus Motion, 1953

Relentless rage and torrid tyranny are just two of the emotions rolling through this black-and-white feature by Scarlet Mandeau. She made this movie with her own money but when it was discovered it was literally her own money because she printed it in her basement, she was sent to prison. But the film was made and it stunned the underground film community with its strikingly gorgeous lead character Elmira. A young girl who always carried a sword - strange and illegal in the cities of the 1950s - Elmira develops a fetish for ordinary men who like professional wrestling and builds her life around the sport's fans.

Haystacks Calhoun, arguably the heaviest wrestler of all time, has a role in the film. He makes grilled cheese sandwiches and strawberry pancakes by sitting on them while wearing blue jeans set aflame in a scene where Elmira introduces him to Ronald, a wrestling fan she picks up at a Connecticut match that is lost by Calhoun when he falls on his back and cannot get up. The plot takes many twists through the four hours the film lasts.

Taste My Morbid Wine, 1962

Trace Tinkerton could have become a huge success in the movies if he only would have paid attention to what the public wanted to see in a film. Instead, Trace wandered with his mind and presented this film, one of 34 he made but could not get distributed (no one ever discovered how he financed his films).

In this film Trace's antagonist is a man who thinks he is a criminal. Running from whom he thinks is the FBI, the man disguises himself as the head of a winery called Wrath’s Grapes. He becomes addicted to the pesticide sprayed on his crops and begins to collect rare coins. For him, any coins he finds are rare, since he only deals with paper money and most of that he steals from people who order wine that he never produces. Convinced the FBI is closing in on him, the man decides to go where no one could ever find him - he gets a job for the U.S. Postal Service. What happens next is surprising and makes me nauseated.

In the future I will write about more of the strange films I have grown to love as my love for strange film has grown over the years.

Frank Cotolo can be found hosting the talk and interview programme Cotolo Chronicles. You can send him an e-mail at this address: frank@148.ca.