I have just returned to my home in Lincoln, England, after interviewing Nicole Maurey in Paris. Here is a clip on youtube of us two having a laugh re-creating the famous "Who cut down the Cherry Tree"? scene from SECRET OF THE INCAS.
Nicole is a real lovely lady and I had a great time with her.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhSPcAyCgwE
http://www.secretoftheincas.co.ukhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhSPcAyCgwE
Why, James, I didn't think you even liked TDOTT!
Nothing's been happening on the SOTI board lately. Everything okay?
Hi hob, great to hear from you.
I hated THE DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS when it was first released, but have changed my mind since seeing it recently. Nicole Maurey doesn't seem to like it too much, either, from what she told me. Actually, I think Nicole is wasted in her role - the part has no meat to it.
By the way, the IMDb is still listing the incorrect birth year of Nicole. Virtually the first question I asked her was to confirm her date of birth - its actually 1926 ... not 1925 as listed.
Yes, its all quiet on the SOTI front - where the hell has everyone gone again?
http://www.secretoftheincas.co.ukhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhSPcAyCgwE
I guess we've taking the summer off. No one has even chimed in to ask me about American politics -- a staple of Incan culture!
You never mentioned NM's 1926 birth year. Not just IMDb, but every source I've ever read has her born in '25. If it needs correcting I guess documentation of some sort is in order.
Incidentally, I know I mentioned this someplace (certainly on SOTI), but Nicole's last Hollywood film, High Time (1960) with Bing Crosby, is now out on a limited-edition (3000) Blu-ray from this outfit Twilight Time. They switched to all-Blu last fall, but just before that they also switched from Region 1 discs to Region-free (R0), so that their discs can be played anywhere in the world -- provided you have a Blu-ray player!
I received a copy the other day but in fact I've never yet gotten a Blu-ray player and will now have to make this modest investment to watch this and the couple of other BR films I've bought. I'm still staying mainly with DVD, which is perfectly fine. But what I'd really like to get is a Region-free Blu-ray player, which would cover all bases...if such a thing exists yet.
Anyway, if you're interested, it's only available at SAE (screenarchives.com), at $29.95 US. I assume they ship overseas since the discs are now R0, but if you have any questions or problems or don't want to be bothered the ordering hassle let me know and I'll get it for you.
hob
Take a gander at this- Nicole Maurey's real birthday confirmed from the great lady herself.
http://www.secretoftheincas.co.uk/page24.html
I stayed up the other night to watch Mitt Romney get crowned King of the Republicans. Compulsive (and sometimes repulsive) viewing. Clint Eastwood talking to an empty chair!
As Don King would say "Only in America!"
http://www.secretoftheincas.co.ukhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhSPcAyCgwE
Hi, mate.
I just read much of the interview from your link. I certainly believe Nicole, but I wonder why the studio made her a year older? If she'd been 16, like Linda Darnell, and they were nervous about pedophilic issues, I can see adding a couple of years. But at 27 or 28? Odd.
Interesting she didn't know about the darker sides of Bing Crosby, Wendell Corey, Robert Young, and so forth. I liked her comments about Yma Sumac, but never knew that stuff about her husband and the maid. Mostly I like Nicole's straightforwardness.
I think Miss Maurey would favorably reevaluate The Day of the Triffids if she saw it again. (We're still waiting for the release of the long-advertised reconstructed print.) It's actually quite a good film. Like so many of those supposedly "lesser" movies, mostly science fiction, of the 50s and early 60s, they've become memorable and had their reputations rise, while many supposedly more "important" films of the era have slid into obscurity. I always hated that word "cult" as in itself it seems demeaning to a film's quality. There are films for which the term "cult favorite" may be appropriate, but Triffids isn't one of them. (On the other hand, some of Wendell Corey's final films, such as The Astro-Zombies and Women of the Prehistoric Planet, are definitely "cult" items...not to mention their "star" was so inebriated his words are barely comprehensible.)
Speaking of whom, as a segue into things political, in the 60s Wendell Corey made the same move into politics as other actors whose careers were floundering, like Ronald Reagan and George Murphy. He was the opening host of the 1960 Republican convention, and was elected to the City Council of Santa Monica, California, in 1965. But in 1966 he lost the Republican primary for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Just as well. He wouldn't have lived to complete his two-year term. Corey died two days after election day, 1968, of cirrhosis of the liver brought on by his chronic alcoholism. He was 54.
As to 2012, popular reaction is that Clint's losing it. I thought he was disrespectful, in addition to being unfunny. But I've halfway given up on this country. "Only in America", indeed.
By the way, your SOTI site looks great! Have to read through the rest of it.
If need be, you can PM me about High Time. Did you get The Jayhawkers?
Yes, hob, I purchased THE JAYHAWKERS a few months ago, and I really enjoyed it. Afterwards, I was wishing that Nicole Maurey had made more movies in America and Britain ... she was beautiful, and a very underrated actress. Did you ever get THE BOLD AND THE BRAVE, hob? her performance in that little war movie is quite outstanding.
The on-line interview has been cropped considerably due to space restrictions, Nicole was very interested to hear all about her old co-stars and what became of them, and our conversation was much longer in person than is shown online. She also told me stuff that I can't publish (or even tell people I know and trust!). She hasn't got a computer of her own, and I doubt that the personal tragedies involving Bing Crosby and Richard Todd were reported in the French newspapers.
Nicole is a really lovely lady, and has a wonderful sense of humour. She was even funny when she wasn't trying to be, especially when impersonating the guys walking in their tree costumes in THE DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS. I laughed out loud.
Good grief, I am so glad that Wendell Corey didn't end up getting the Harry Steele role in SECRET OF THE INCAS. I can't imagine anybody but Heston in the role now, and I know I wouldn't hold it in such esteem if the cast differed from Heston, Nicole and Yma Sumac.
I'll have to give HIGH TIME a miss, because I haven't invested in a Blu-ray yet.
As for Clint Eastwood talking to the empty chair ... I seem to remember him years ago singing about "I talk to the trees, but they don't listen to me!" in a terrible musical western PAINT YOUR WAGON. It was excruciating viewing, that's for sure.
http://www.secretoftheincas.co.ukhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhSPcAyCgwE
Hi James,
My email is out but I'm guessing you saw my reply to your post over on the Jayhawkers site, where I realized right after the above post that you'd said you'd purchased it. I did manage to get a copy of The Bold and the Brave, but as it's not on R1 DVD I bought a new UK R2 disc (from a place in the state of New Jersey!), for just $2-something. But I'm ashamed to say I haven't gotten around to watching it yet. But even before you asked, I decided to put it in the queue for watching soon. When I do, I'll post a few thoughts about the film on its site. I've never seen it.
Wendell Corey could never have made it as Harry Steele, for the simple reason that, when the time came for the climactic sequence of Ed Morgan falling off the cliff, Wendell would have been so drunk he would've rolled down the mountain, thereby necessitating a complete re-shoot.
Several years ago, there was an episode of The Simpsons in which Homer and Bart rent a movie with Lee Marvin and Clint Eastwood, figuring it would be a great, slam-bang action flick. The movie, of course, was Paint Your Wagon. The writers did a great job coming up with fake lyrics from the film, such as Clint and Lee dancing around a wagon singing:
I will paint your wagon,
I will paint it good.
I'll use oil-based paint,
Because it's best on wood.
At which, Bart and Homer both let out a piercing scream of horror...probably akin to how you and many others reacted to the real thing.