The 1964 film, I Am Cuba, celebrates the arrival of Communism to the island, and is filled with...err...revolutionary sequences by Russian cinematographer, Sergei Urusevski. Here's the legendary Copacabana sequence, that features a clever continous shot taking you from the roof of the hotel, all the way down to the swimming pool. Dig those swingin' cats wailing on the roof in their dunce caps! ¡Viva la Revolución!

[Link: Soy Cuba]

Update: a million mahalos to Lili of fwak! for uploading the incredible nightclub, floorshow, and Loco Amor scenes, all shot using the decor from the long-lost Havana Trader Vic's! Capitalism never looked more louche or insouciant (and International Communism never looked so boring by comparison)! ¡Viva la Mai Tai revolución!

[Link: Nightclub ]
[Link: Floorshow]
[Link: Loco Amor]

Posted by MrBaliHai at 8:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (9)

This post over at Dumb Angel [link] got me thinking about the mystical convergence of five things that I love: surf music, tiki, monsters, kustom kar kulture, and old beach movies. Now when I say beach movies, I'm not talking about that safe-as-milk Frankie and Annette crap, I'm talking about horny-teen, drive-in schlock like Del Tenney's Z-grade classic, Horror of Party Beach [link], a solid-gold cinematic turkey that billed itself as, "The First Horror Monster Musical" and managed to incorporate at least three of the genres I mentioned above. Once you've seen it, you'll never forget the Del-Aires' [link] performance of their monster-surf classic, Zombie Stomp, or the cheesy radioactive monster who looks like he's got a mouth full of hot dogs [link].

Nowadays, there are any number of excellent bands carrying on the monster-surf-kustom kar tradition, and those swingin' undertakers, The Ghastly Ones [link], have even sunk their fangs (somewhat tentatively, I admit) into Polynesian-pop culture by hawking "tiki" pendants [link] and contributing tunes to the Halloween episode of SpongeBob Squarepants [link].

If you dig those Ghastly sounds, here are a few other bands you should check out: The Moon Rays [link], The Route 66 Killers [link], Monsters From Mars [link], Atomic Mosquitos [link], The Coffin Daggers [link], and just because I like their name, The Space Turds From Butt-Tron VII (AKA The Outlanders) [link].

Posted by MrBaliHai at 8:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)