Diana Rigg may have left us, but I've still got some unanswered questions for her like What in the Hell was this all about! Tonight's feature is a legitimate Double WTF?! Wednesday presentation!
"Minikillers" is series of short Super 8 MM movies that were made in 1969 in Spain!
"Minikillers" stars Diana Rigg and is fairly difficult to find any solid information about!
"Minikillers" is basically the only credit there is for brothers Wolfgang and Michael Chmielewski.
Wolfgang did direct one other film and was a writer for the German TV show "Sonne, Wein Und Harte Nüsse."
Lots of binoculars! Lots of spying going on!
The Boss of whatever the Hell is going on is played by José Nieto. He's up to no good!
Basically you have no idea what is going on, and then Diana Rigg strolls into the scene headed for the Hotel swimming pool, and Jose is watching her!
The swingin' soundtrack was written by
Hans Rettenbacher!
Hans Rettenbacher!
Another very interesting thing about "Minikillers" is that it is a silent movie! There is music, but there is no diaglogue at all! Zero, Nada, Nichts, Zilch!
Moisés Augusto Rocha, along with José Nieto, were in a number of Jess Franco films which leads
some people to speculate that Jess was also somehow involved with this
project, but I have my doubts! The IMDB has Moisés billed as the "Bowled henchman." Do you think I should let them know that I think it's supposed to be "Bald?"
I think this project came from the heart and soul of the Chmielewskis, and nobody else should get the blame or the credit, and besides the fact that you'll surely wonder what in the Hell is going on, there is no blame to be had!
This remote controlled creepy doll comes walking up poolside, and when this one guy picks it up, it squirts acid or something in the fellow's eyes!
Diana Rigg just sits there looking gorgeous watching the whole deal unravel!
After that, she calmly strolls over and picks up the doll and takes it back to her room.
At this point you have no idea who she is or what's she's doing, nor will you later!
Diana ponders the whole situation!
Somebody on a website some years ago had this to say about why these films exist!
"During the late 60s, people stayed sitting in their cars at the gas station, waiting for their fuel, and having their oil checked etc. So the idea was to "entertain" them by showing
short 4 or 5 minute films."
short 4 or 5 minute films."
Personally I don't get it! What? They would wheel out a projector and a screen like being at a mini-drive-in? Sounds dubious to me at best!
Her door opens and another creepy doll comes wandering in, but Diana doesn't notice!
She's got somewhere to go and doesn't even see the doll waddling along across the floor!
It's too late, but the doll squirts some more deadly liquid from it's eyes. Diana is gone and the episode is over. Once again, you can thank Lord Litter in Berlin for finding this jewel for us!
Seems like if you're gonna watch a few minutes-long movie while you're waiting at a stoplight or at the coffeeshop, you need something to watch it on. These days we have our phones, but what did we have in the late Sixties when this was made? Or maybe there was going to be a specialized jukebox for 'em, perhaps?
ReplyDeleteI'm still trying to figure it out myself! Maybe a scopitone might make sense, but have you ever tried to use one of those old projectors? It takes four or five minutes just to set it up!
ReplyDeleteFlipbooks! That's the ticket! ;)
ReplyDeleteLooks a lot like a high dollar fan film for Diana Rigg.
ReplyDeleteI'll say one thing about the lady: she sure was talented, and *beautiful*!
ReplyDeleteWell Randall, I wasn't ever able to have somebody like Ms. Rigg in one of my fan films, but I *DID* get a wonderful, sweet actress from a bunch of lower level Hollyweird z-movies to be in a film of mine back in the late 1980s: Ms. Katherine Victor, star of CAPE CANAVERAL MONSTERS, TEENAGE ZOMBIES, and THE WILD WORLD OF BATWOMAN. She was a doll, humble and kind, and she even sent a lovely crystal jar as a gift for the wedding of my wife and myself, in '91. She was by "brush with greatness."
ReplyDeleteDiana Rigg was one of the most beautiful and talented actresses to ever appear in a movie or T.V. show.
ReplyDeleteI can't help liking KD's attitude about Katherine Victor. I never trust labels like "B-List" and "C-List" and so on.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Grant! (Didn't we meet somewhere else online, not long ago?)
ReplyDeleteKatherine Victor was a very classy, elegant lady, but by the time I got to know her (1988-89), she was busy working as a continuity checker in animation for Disney in the LA area. Her last credit in that realm was, I believe, on the Tigger Movie. It was a career she'd had for decades...but acting was something she did because she enjoyed it. Alas, most of her film acting was on Jerry Warren's films, and she was doing those films out of a sense of duty, or so that was my impression. She loved working with people like Bruno Ve Sota. One of her favorite films though, seemed to be Cape Canaveral Monsters for Phil Tucker, which was a lot of fun and she got along better with Phil Tucker than with Jerry Warren.
Lucky you! I've been blessed with performances from a few talented actors from the West Coast, including a cameo by Jason Carter of Babylon 5 who with one minute's study out-acted everyone else in the cast.
ReplyDeleteBack to Ms. Rigg, she was always a classy actress, perhaps difficult according to Lazenby, but as Emma Peel, she rocked the world.
Hey Randall! It sounds like you had more luck than I have! Unfortunately, Babylon 5 is a show I've only seen once, but with the cast and crew on that show, Jason Carter must be a darn good actor, having aced it with only one minute's study!
ReplyDeleteI did have an appearance in a short film in 1981, by my old pal, writer-director Arthur C. Pierce, who a year or two later moved to Texas and was a part-time extra on the sets of the hit Dallas TV show, so I guess I could say I had an actor from Dallas in once of my films, right? lol
I never got to do what I really wanted to do, re: filmmaking, but that's why I'm still trying to get a substantial film together, while I'm still able.
I never met Ms. Rigg, but I did chat with her Avengers partner, Patrick Macnee, on the set of The Creature Wasn't Nice, a sci-fi comedy starring Leslie Nielsen, also during 1981. Mr. Macnee was extremely nice, kind and gentlemanly, for our five minute chat on the planet landscape set! (For the planet's surface, they poured bag after bag of *kitty litter"* on the soundstage floor!)
We're all lucky, each of us in our own way, I think. You've probably made far more films than I did. And the Dungeon Gang here made a couple of really cool independent films, too!
I've got lots of help now, including my pal Edward Hunt (Starship Invasions, Bloody Birthday, The Brain, and several other features), who is coaching me through making my own micro-budget feature, once the worst of the pandemic is over and behind us (fingers crossed, for all of us!)
Cheers, everyone! Have a great weekend! (Good grief, I'm windy...)
Re: Lord Litter's Website, you guys have to see his homepage! It woke me up with a start, from my near-nap!
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